Back To The Start
by Fifth-Of-Fourth
Summary: At the moment when Ace had defended Luffy from Akainu's attack at Marineford, they were sent back to the past whereby they would meet their younger selfs. No one knew the purpose or what had caused this trigger of events but one thing was for sure was that all four of them were going to have one hell of a ride. AceLu. YAOI.
1. Sorting Out

This idea just came into my mind instantly after looking through some AceLu fanarts (You could probably guess what pictures I came across that gave me this idea XD). Well, I have some plans for this stories but I am still sorting things out so that the ideas could connect with one another.

I hope you enjoy this!

**I do not own One Piece**

* * *

"Luffy! Don't go near them!" A voice called out harshly.

"Eh? But why? They look really familiar. But they don't belong here, do they?" Another voice, which is a lot more child-like, responded.

The two figures that was sprawled unconscious on the sandy ground was oblivious to their surroundings. A few distance away from them, there were two little kids, who happened to came upon them before, were investigating them quietly for a few more minutes before the one of the figures on the floor started to show signs of regaining conscious, making them jump a step away in shock.

"ACEEEEEEE!"

"What the hell?!" The taller kid exclaimed.

"He is calling for you," the shorter kid pointed out.

Luffy blinked when he finally realized that something was wrong and looked around. The place seemed really familiar-no wait, it was Fuchsia village and he was sure of it. He had came to this beach many times with Ace and Sabo when he was young. But how did they land there? The last thing that Luffy remembered was Ace blocking the attack that was meant for him and had gotten severely injured. At least, that was what Luffy wanted to believe even though Ace stated that he was dying.

His gaze finally landed on the two small kids that had been around them ever since they were found.

_Wait a minute…_

"Ace?" Luffy called out to them, "And… me?"

Little-Ace was in front of Little-Luffy in a protective way incase the strange man in front of them decided to do something unexpected that would hurt Little-Luffy. With what Little-Ace had gone through with Little-Luffy, he was extremely cautious around strangers-even though said stranger had an uncanny resemblance to Little-Luffy. Even the scar below both of their left eye were identical.

"Who the heck are you and how do you know my name?" Little-Ace demanded.

Little-Luffy's head poked out from Little-Ace's side and was glad that he could finally have a better view. "Ah! No wonder he looks familiar! He looks a lot like me! That's sooooo cool!" Little-Luffy exclaimed in excitement and would've went to Luffy if Little-Ace had not put his arm outstretched in front of him.

"Me? I'm Luffy!"

"I'm Luffy too!" The mini-sized version pipped up and pointed to the lying person behind Luffy. "And… who is that person behind you?"

Luffy turned his head 180 degrees which made Little-Ace and Little-Luffy jumped back for the second time in shock. It was then Little-Ace had realized, judging from the way Luffy had managed to do that, was that Luffy had the exact same ability as Little-Luffy. Both of them were rubberman! And Little-Ace knew that there was only one type of devil fruit across the whole world.

"Ace!" Luffy shouted in relief when he saw that his brother was alive.

"Ace…?" Little-Ace murmured as he raised an eyebrow at the figure that was sharing the same name as him. Just who the heck were they?

There was blood covering the majority of Ace's abdomen and the areas which were not covered were of a nasty blue-black color. But Luffy had to admit that this was a lot better than seeing Ace with a gaping hole in his stomach. He doubt that Ace would even be breathing if the hole had remained… but thank god to whomever that had closed that hole. But even so, Ace didn't look completely well at all.

Luffy went towards Ace's side and tried to lift him up so that they could get to a place whereby there will be doctors until there was a sharp pain that shot through Luffy's own body. He had realized that he, himself, had over-exerted his own bodies during the war and was already feeling the after effects of it.

But despite that, he still needed to bring Ace somewhere.

"Nnngh…" Ace mumbled as he was also starting to regain his conscious. When he did, he tried to focus on his sights better while numerous questions flooded through his head. "What the-am I in hell or something?"

"You're awake!" Luffy cried out happily while he was still holding Ace up in a semi-sitting position by the shoulders.

"Luffy…?" Ace was even more confused now. He tilted his head back a little to have a better look at their surroundings until his gaze finally landed at their staring audience. And apparently out of the four of them, Ace was the smartest one. "Aren't they… us? Why are the younger versions of us doing here?"

Little-Ace finally snapped out of his staring and glared at them suspiciously instead. "What do you mean by 'younger versions'? Don't tell me that you are saying that you are us or something crappy like that."

Jeez, was this really how himself acted when he was young?

"Yes, I am…"

"Cool! So you are Ace when he grows older or something like that, right?" Little-Luffy exclaimed in excitement as he attempted to go over to them.

"Luffy! Don't go near them!" Little-Ace warned again as he held his little brother away from the strangers. "Look, you may be able to fool Luffy but you won't be able to trick me. Who the hell are you guys and why the heck do you have the same ability as Luffy?" Little-Ace demanded while pointing a finger at Luffy.

Luffy pointed at himself and tilted his head to the side. "I ate the Devil's fruit and became a rubberman when I was young. But now that you mention it, they really do look like us when we were kids!"

"Because they are, Luffy…"

"Enough with that already," Little-Ace snapped and Ace was starting to feel as though Little-Ace really wasn't him. "Where did you people come from anyway?"

Luffy glanced upwards as though he was thinking hard. "Um… Let's see. We were at a war and there is this guy who was trying to attack me. Ace defended me and had this huge hole in his stomach and died. That's all I can remember," he explained with a solemn tone in his voice while looking down sadly.

"A-Ace… d-died?" Little-Luffy stammered, his eyes getting teary and watery at the thought. Ever since Sabo had passed away, Little-Luffy's greatest fear was having Ace dying next. Without another second, Little-Luffy started to cry.

"Idiot! Don't make Luffy cry!" Little-Ace shouted and pulled Little-Luffy into his arms. "Lu… it's okay. Don't cry."

Little-Luffy buried his face into Litte-Ace's chest as he continued to weep. "B-But Ace i-is going to die…"

"Don't listen to him. I'm not going to die that easily…"

Ace sighed and whacked Luffy over his bowed head gently. "I'm still alive and right beside you, Lu." Then he brought Luffy close to him with an arm and kissed him on the forehead. After that he used a hand to tilt Luffy's chin up and placed his own lips on top of Luffy's. The younger teen didn't seemed surprise at the action; he closed his eyes and responded to the kiss while a small blush tinted his cheeks.

Their show of affection seemed to have gained Little-Ace's and Little-Luffy's attention. Little-Ace was looking at them like a gaping fish while Little-Luffy was staring at them in wonder. After Little-Ace had snapped out of his staring for the second time of the day, he immediately used his hand to cover both of Little-Luffy's eyes and demanded for him to stop watching because apparently, kissing was still considered too young for Little-Luffy to be witnessing.

When it comes to worst, Little-Luffy was going to demand that he wanted to try it with Little-Ace too.

"Oi! Get a room!" Little-Ace snapped.

Ace broke the kiss and looked at them with an eyebrow raised and pulled Luffy closer to his chest as to further elaborate on their relationship. "Eh? It's fine, isn't it? You are technically us and if things goes the way it did, you guys are going to become lovers like us."

"Lovers?" Little-Luffy pipped up, having already stopped crying long time ago. "But Ace and I are going to get married!"

"Lu! Don't talk about that!" Little-Ace exclaimed in embarrassment. He had only agreed to it because Little-Luffy wouldn't stop pestering him about it… and partly because the thought of marrying Luffy was a lot better than having himself getting married to anyone else. But still.

"You have to be lovers before getting married," Ace pointed out helpfully.

"And you! Shut up!" Little-Ace barked while his face already couldn't get anymore redder than it already had.

How could Ace be him?!

Luffy laughed at their antics joyously. This was really hilarious to him! Little-Ace's face was still beet red while you can practically see steam coming out from his head. Little-Luffy's eyes had brightened up and was tugging onto Little-Ace's hand expectantly while the corner of Ace's mouth had twitched upwards into a smirk. It was technically like bullying himself but it was still fun nonetheless.

"Anyway, we have to get Ace to the doctor but I don't think we can carry him because he is too heavy."

"Oi! Are you calling me fat?"

Little-Luffy giggled at them. "Don't worry! Ace and I will try to get help from the village!" Little-Luffy said helpfully while ignoring the incredulous look that was sent towards him. Apparently, Little-Ace hadn't fully trusted them yet. "Come on! Let's go Ace," he urged as he dragged Little-Ace to the direction of the village.

"Thanks a lot!" Luffy called out behind them.

During the time when they were gone, Luffy had already moved the both of them to bottom of the nearest cliff so that Ace would have something to support his body since he had insisted to sit instead of lying down. It was a difficult feat for both of them to move in the state they were in but they managed with some difficulty anyway. Luffy could hardly feel his own muscles having already pushed his own body which exceeded the amount which it could take.

Ace leaned his back against the rocky wall while Luffy decided to sit beside him instead of his usual place in between Ace's legs in order to avoid having contact with his bruise.

It had truly been long since they could have time to themselves. Being on different pirate ships really didn't guarantee them to meet as often as they would liked-which made his own crew wonder how they could manage to stay in such a strong relationship despite their distance apart from each other. Ever since Alabasta, Luffy hadn't seen Ace anymore until Marineford. They had already have their relationship established before Ace had departed from Fuchsia village.

Ace glanced at Luffy, who was being unusually silent, from the corners of his eyes and wrapped an arm around his waist, making him jump slightly at the sudden contact before relaxing in his hold. He kissed the side of Luffy's head as he looked at him with a loving gaze while Luffy managed a smile back.

"Don't look so sad, Lu," Ace murmured.

"Sorry," Luffy replied with a sheepish grin.

Ace chuckled, already knew what was Luffy mostly thinking about. He felt a pang of guilt for having to put Luffy through the pain but he hadn't regretted his actions at all. Luffy's fear of losing Ace was no higher amount of Ace's fear of losing Luffy. But after being apart from each other and not having a healthy quality time together, it was cruel to have one ripped away from another's life so suddenly. The experience had really struck something deep within them.

With another tug with his arm around Luffy's waist, Ace leaned over to kiss Luffy on the lips again, planning to take this chance, no matter how weird the situation they were in was, and enjoy his time with Luffy as much as possible. As long as Luffy was around, he wouldn't feel the need to care about anything else around him.

Luffy smiled against the kiss and pushed his lips against Ace's as well with one hand resting on the other side of Ace's broad shoulders.

Soon, their kiss had grown a lot more passionate when Ace had successfully slipped his tongue into Luffy's lips, making the younger teen moan in excitement and opened his own mouth wider. Ace grunted softly as he tried to get his tongue as far in as possible while roaming around within Luffy's mouth as much as he could as the heat of the moment danced around their whole bodies.

He pushed Luffy down onto the sand, ignoring the small sharp pain that had struck through his abdomen for the sudden movement although he also let out a small groan of pain against Luffy's lips, making the younger teen open his eyes slightly in worry. Ace grabbed the side of Luffy's head gently as to reassure him that he was alright and they continued their passionate moment until…

"OI! I told you guys to get a room, you perverts!" Little-Ace snapped while covering Little-Luffy's eyes.


	2. Jealousy Quirks

Here is the second chapter for all of you! Thank you very much for the reviews and support! Reading your reviews had really made me even more pumped up. I'll try my best to update this fic in my best abilities.

On another note, if there are any special scenes that you want to request in this fic, you could either state it on your review or PM me and I will see if I could make it a part/a whole chapter out of it!

* * *

The people whom Little-Ace and Little-Luffy had requested for help was Dadan, Makino and the bandits. Even though Little-Luffy thought of getting the villagers since the village was nearer compared to Dadan's hut, Little-Ace preferred not to have as many people to know about this strange occurrence as possible. At least Little-Ace knew that he could trust Dadan, Makino and the other bandits to keep this a secret while helping them to work this whole thing out.

Little-Ace was only halfway to believing what Ace had said though.

When Dadan and Makino were tending to Ace and Luffy, they couldn't help but notice the obvious similar appearances to Little-Ace and Little Luffy, much to the former kid's denials. It was awkward to be facing the adult versions of the little brats Dadan was so used to taking care of but when Luffy opened his mouth, she immediately felt a lot more familiar. But whoever when Ace did, Dadan's head was full of doubts. Little-Ace had never sounded so polite in his life!

Meanwhile, they told Dadan and Makino most of what they had gone through with them before the both of them left the village for their dreams. They decided to skip the part whereby Ace was captured and almost died in Marineford since they didn't want to cause Little-Luffy to cry again.

"At least it's safe to know that you have improved on your manners quite a bit," Dadan muttered as she cleaned up the used bandages on the floor. "But sadly, you are still causing trouble everywhere." And that was obviously the tone of a proud mother.

Ace chuckled. "Thanks. I appreciate the compliment."

"Brat, you are starting to make me feel uncomfortable."

"Deal with it, idiot."

Dadan gave him a smirk. "Now we're talking."

Makino giggled at them and sat down on the spot beside Luffy. "So before the both of you left the village, you guys got together without us knowing, right? It's adorable but I wonder how you could manage to keep it secret."

"Ace promised me lots of meat!" Luffy chirped up.

"Right." Makino didn't doubt that the tactic had worked. It was what Dadan usually used sometimes to encourage Little-Luffy to do his chores when she happened to be in a good mood. "What are you going to do from now? You can't stay here if you don't want Garp to find out about this…"

Garp was definitely the last person all of them would want to know about this situation. One was that he would probably beat the crap out of Ace and Luffy for throwing their lives into piracy. Next would be that he would forcefully drag the fully grown adults to the Marines and it was scary that they had speculated that Garp would actually succeed in doing so. If the second one fails then Garp would just keep trying until even Dadan would pull out her own hair.

Because whenever Garp visits, the renovation bills just added itself on her table.

And did anyone seriously think that Garp would take responsibility for breaking the house? No.

"We could stay in the Gray Terminal if the inspections are over," Ace suggested.

"Yes it is. Oh, and if it won't be much trouble-What am I saying, this is going to give you hell but take those brats along with you as well," Dadan requested as she motioned to Little-Ace and Little-Luffy. "Take it as an exchange for keeping you two a secret."

It wasn't that she wanted to chase them out of her house or anything but she understood how it was for them whenever Garp made a visit. Plus, it would be good if they would get to know their adult selfs more since they had always admired and dreamt of being pirates for as long as Dadan could remember. At the same time, Dadan would be able to save up on renovation bills and everyone would be happy.

"Oi! Don't make these kinds of decisions on your own!" Little-Ace snapped.

Except for him.

Little-Luffy pouted and tugged onto Little-Ace's shirt. "Eh? Why not? It would be so much fun staying with them! I've so many questions to ask my adult self and didn't we planned to stay at Gray Terminal before?"

"Lu, listen to me. They are not-"

"Alright! We'll do it!" Luffy interjected excitedly, making Little-Luffy perked up as well. "This is going to be so much fun!"

Ace glanced at his younger self who was trying his best not to hit Luffy over the head while chuckling on the inside. As much as Little-Ace had tried to convince everyone that he didn't believe in what they said, his attitude towards Luffy so far proved that he didn't completely disregard them. Ace knew that Little-Ace had saw Luffy as the Little-Luffy that he loved and thus couldn't bring himself to become too harsh.

Wait, what would Dadan say to Garp when he found his grandsons missing?

* * *

When the negotiations were over, the four of them immediately headed to Gray Terminal to check the place out. Despite Makino's attempts to get Ace and Luffy to rest first, it was an impossible feat when Luffy and Little-Luffy had already became this excited about staying at the place they had always wanted to. Ace and Little-Ace were trotting behind them quietly while the two in front wasn't really being as secretive as they should.

Well, if anything happens, Ace would just have to burn someone depending on the person they encountered.

Soon, they had finally found a plausible spot to make with. Even though everything around them was nothing but garbage and junk, there were a few huge pillars and other materials that could be used to build a temporary shelter. Ace had considered making a small hut but it might attract unwanted attention. Makino, Dadan and the bandits had agreed to provide them with necessities until Ace and Luffy-most probably only Ace found some sort of job.

"Alright. I'm going to start moving the pillars," Ace announced as he started to stretch his arms.

"You hadn't fully recovered," Luffy pointed out.

"I'm doing a lot better than before so don't worry. I'll try not to over-exert myself like some idiot," he teased while patting on the top of Luffy's head affectionately. "The two of you stay near Lu," he instructed to the little kids.

While Ace was moving the pillars, Little-Luffy couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration when he saw how strong Ace was. And his excitement only increased when Luffy had helped out with the arrangement with his literally stretched out hands while not moving from the spot at all. Little-Ace was still in quite a sour mood and it only became worse when Little-Luffy's attention had been solely on their adult selfs.

"There. This looks okay," Ace remarked while observing their work.

"You guys are really strong!" Little-Luffy exclaimed.

"Shishishi! Of course we are."

Little-Ace let out an irritated sigh and started to walk away from them while simply saying, "I'm going for a walk."

Little-Luffy looked at Little-Ace in confusion at his sudden change of behavior which had been there ever since they found the two adults on the beach. "Ah, wait! Ace! I'm going with you too!" he called out as he ran after his sworn brother.

"What's with him-I mean, you?" Luffy asked in confusion.

"I think I have an idea," Ace replied and chuckled softly while wrapping his arms around Luffy's waist to pull him closer. "You always had been oblivious."

"Huh? What are you saying?"

Ace felt tempted to roll his eyes at Luffy but decided against it and brought Luffy down with him to sit underneath the shelter they had built. For some reason, they felt very much like a family now. Maybe Luffy wouldn't feel that way since he had never thought of experiencing the role of an adult in a family while Ace had been pondering on it during numerous times while they were still apart from each other in the seas.

"I'm saying that you're an idiot."

"Oh-Hey!"

"My idiot."

Ace then guided Luffy's chin with his fingers to face him and planted another sweet kiss on Luffy's lips once again. Despite being insulted earlier, Luffy seemed contented with this and closed his eyes to enjoy their peace after going through a turmoil called life.

* * *

"Ace! Ace! Wait for me!" Little-Luffy called out while trying not to stumble over any little rocks lying around.

Little-Ace unintentionally ignored Little-Luffy as he was still in his land of rage and jealously over the adults who had easily gained Little-Luffy's attention. First it was Shanks and now the both of them had popped out of nowhere. It seemed as though the world was plotting against him or something although he did felt a little stupid for being jealous over… himself. Still, Little-Luffy had never shown much interest in anyone else other than the adults mentioned and of course, Little-Ace himself.

It was then he heard a cry of pain behind him that finally snapped him out of his world.

"Lu!" Little-Ace called out when he realized that Little-Luffy had tripped over in his haste. Had he followed Little-Ace? "Are you alright?" he asked in concern after moving to Luffy's side.

"A-Ace was ignoring me," Little-Luffy mumbled sadly while trying his best not to cry.

"I-I'm sorry. And I wasn't ignoring you… I didn't know that you were following me," Little-Ace admitted as he inspected on Little-Luffy's wounds. It was good that it didn't go anywhere beyond a nasty scratch on his knees. "It didn't look too bad. Let's get back so that we can deal with this."

Little-Ace stood in front of Little-Luffy with his back turned towards him and bent down a little so that Little-Luffy could get onto his back. When he did, he tucked his arms beneath Little-Luffy's hips and lifted him up in a piggyback ride. Little-Luffy was very light and mostly made of rubber so Little-Ace had never have any trouble carrying him over long distances. While Little-Ace was walking slowly back, so as to prevent more pain for Little-Luffy, the younger one was biting his lips nervously.

"Why is Ace angry…?"

"…I'm not angry."

"You're lying. I can obviously tell that you're lying," Little-Luffy pointed out with a pout, feeling somewhat belittled that Little-Ace would think that Little-Luffy wouldn't notice. "What's wrong with you? You had been acting weird ever since our adult selfs arrived."

Little-Ace sighed when he knew that he couldn't keep it from Little-Luffy anymore-he would just pester him for the truth anyway. "I'm just… you seemed so much happier with them."

Blinking in confusion, Little-Luffy tilted his head sideways in an attempt to look at Little-Ace's facial expressions better. "Huh? They're really strong but I still don't get why Ace is angry. What does that have to do with it?"

"I just though that you are happier with them than me," Little-Ace mumbled.

Little-Luffy was somewhat taken aback by Little-Ace's confession before he started to laugh at him. "Silly Ace! I love Ace the most in the world!" Little-Luffy replied. "I would never choose anyone other than Ace to be with!"

"Y-Yeah, I know," he said while trying to fight down the embarrassment that was growing within him. "I just got a little irritated and that's all."

"I love you, Ace," Little-Luffy said while Little-Ace had probably figured that Little-Luffy wouldn't know how much impact those three words could truly make. The younger one stretched himself up a little and planted a soft kiss on the freckled cheek before letting out a small giggle after breaking apart.

Little-Ace blushed and turned his head away slightly so that Little-Luffy couldn't see it. He had been quite silly as well for getting worked up over such a small matter. He had long knew that Little-Luffy wouldn't throw him aside for anyone else. Even with Shanks, he had heard from the man that Little-Luffy had been talking about him throughout the time-which made him feel a swell of pride within him. The kid really knew how to make Little-Ace felt great.

Maybe someday he would return those words to him after he could get over his own awkwardness…

But in the meantime…

"How many times do I have to tell you idiots to get a room?!"


	3. Heart To Heart Talk

Here is the third chapter! Thank you very much for your support and reviews!

* * *

Ever since they had moved into their new 'house', things had been going along quite smoothly thanks to the external help. But Ace, the most responsible one within the four, felt that he shouldn't rely or trouble Dadan and Makino more than they already had. After all, he did mention about getting a job in Goa Kingdom so that he could earn some dough despite having a sort of dislike towards that place.

But compared to Little-Ace, the freckled teen reckoned that he would be able to manage.

As for Luffy, the prospect of him doing any sort of serious work was down to zero; either he would be sacked within an hour or his employers would lose their own work. Besides, someone needed to take care of their place and the two little brats incase there was any unexpected attacks. It was difficult to trust Luffy with a responsible job but at the same time, he had never let anyone down after making a promise. Oh, and there was a little bit of meat involved to.

Luffy, on the other hand, was quite reluctant to have Ace leave his sight. The experience of almost losing Ace had gave him quite a scare and eventually made Luffy become a lot more clingy towards Ace than usual. Not that Ace minded actually; it was adorable when Luffy stuck to him like glue. On the darker side, nightmares had been accumulating for Luffy and Ace had to wake up in the middle of the night constantly to calm him down.

Little-Ace and Little-Luffy generally didn't have much against Ace having a job. As long as the two kids wouldn't be separated, they would be fine with pretty much anything. Usually, they would be the one hunting for food instead of Luffy because Little-Ace or Ace wouldn't even trust Luffy not to devour the meat immediately. So they just left Luffy with the task of anything else that was needed to be done.

But first things first…

"Why the heck can you even go around half-naked? Wear some clothes," Little-Ace scolded his older counterpart.

"I am already used to walking around like this," Ace replied while pointing to the Whitebeard Pirates' tattoo embedded on his back with his thumb. "And besides, I have to show my pride and joy to the world."

"You will be screamed at and arrested before you can even walk to the plaza," Little-Ace retorted.

Luffy and Little-Luffy were looking back and forth during their arguments quietly. Little-Ace didn't seem to like the way Ace was acting which was really strange considering how they are technically one another while Luffy and Little-Luffy got along quite well with one another… when they weren't fighting against each other for the biggest portion of the food. But it was usually Little-Ace who was the one complaining while Ace would be calm throughout the quarrel.

"He has a point. And wouldn't it be trouble if one of old man's crew were to see you? I mean, you hadn't met them in this world," Luffy pointed out.

Ace sighed. "I know, I know." As much as he wouldn't admit it, Ace also missed his own crew and meeting them here wouldn't be a good time for him. He really hoped that he wouldn't run into any of them as long as he had to remain in this world. "So what do we do? There isn't any clothes here that could fit me."

"Fat," Luffy teased and poked his abdomen.

"Oi. These are muscles, idiot." Which proved to be quite a turn on.

Little-Ace sighed and shook his head. "There is no helping it. Luffy and I will go to Dadan's to try and find something. You and Lu will stay here while we are gone."

"Okay!" Luffy and Little-Luffy replied enthusiastically.

"Thanks!" Ace said.

Luffy and Little-Ace then proceeded to head off to Dadan's place while Little-Luffy had moved over to plop down on the spot beside Ace. Little-Ace had been rather possessive of Little-Luffy even when it was with Ace. But Little-Ace didn't seem to have much of a problem with Little-Luffy becoming close with Luffy. Ace didn't quite mind either since he understood how his younger self was like. And it wasn't as though Ace wasn't protective of Luffy either.

"Are you hungry?" Ace asked.

Little-Luffy nodded. It was a standard response. "I'm very hungry now."

Ace chuckled and took one of the canned food that Dadan had brought over. He really enjoyed spoiling Little-Luffy and Luffy a lot. "Just deal with this until dinner then." He let his palm turned into flames to heat up the food inside for a few seconds before opening it serve it in a bowl. "Here."

"Thanks a lot!" Little-Luffy exclaimed happily and started to eat. "Big brother Ace is being so nice! If only Ace could be like that too."

"Was little me that bad?" Ace questioned with an eyebrow raised.

Little-Luffy pouted. "Ace doesn't like it when I cry and he would keep scolding me when I do but it was a lot different from how he would do it compared to before… And he was always saying that I'm weak and that he would protect me…"

Which was just saying that Little-Ace wasn't totally bad.

"Hmm… what if your Ace were to become like me now?"

Little-Luffy made a face. "That would be really weird!"

"But weren't you just complaining about him just now?"

"Yeah but…" Little-Luffy trailed off in thought before turning his head towards Ace with a grin. "But in the end, I still love Ace the best no matter what!"

Ace couldn't resist the warm feeling bubbling inside of him since technically, Little-Luffy was talking about him as well. It really brought him back to the time whereby he and Luffy were still young. Ace immediately brought Little-Luffy into a bone crushing hug and rubbed his cheeks against the other's while talking about how adorable Little-Luffy was. The youngest one could only make noises of confusion but not breaking out of the hug as well since he also loved Ace a lot.

* * *

It didn't take Luffy and Little-Ace long to finally get some clothes from Dadan and was on the way to heading back to Gray terminal.

Luffy had to admit that he wasn't used to the way Little-Ace acted compared to Ace. The younger one was more grumpy and cold while his Ace was more cheerful. But it wasn't something that Luffy couldn't get used to seeing how he had been dealing with Little-Ace when he was young himself. Aside from being a little taken aback by Little-Ace's attitude sometimes, it sort of made him feel nostalgic too.

Now he knew why Dadan was shocked when she first heard Ace spoke in his polite manner.

"Hey," Little-Ace called out suddenly, making Luffy stopped in his tracks and looked at him in confusion. "Is it true that I… almost died?"

Luffy tilted his head at the odd question, wondering why Little-Ace was suddenly asking that. He knew that Little-Luffy couldn't take the thought of Little-Ace and Ace dying but the little freckled boy didn't seemed to be just as scared. But thinking back during the times at Marineford, didn't Ace mentioned that he had been searching for an answer to his own existence?

"Yes, you did," he answered quickly. "You almost died saving me in the end even though I was the one who was supposed to save you."

Little-Ace scoffed at the thought, clearly thinking about Little-Luffy trying to save him. "Impossible. I will always be the one protecting Lu and never otherwise," he retorted with a proud grin. "Still… were you… sad?"

"Of course I was!"

This time, Little-Ace was taken aback by Luffy's outburst.

"Ace is the most important person. I don't want Ace to die…"

Little-Ace glanced at the ground briefly, having reminded of when Little-Luffy said that he needed him and wanted him to live even when Little-Ace hadn't treated him very nicely before they became sworn brothers. And after Sabo had died, Little-Luffy had made Little-Ace promise that he would never die like how Sabo did. Soon enough, Little-Luffy had became his reason to live while during the time way back, he had been leaning towards the thought of not living at all.

"Idiot, you don't have to get this worked up over it," Little-Ace replied with a sigh.

"You're fine with dying…?"

"Of course not. Lu wouldn't be able to survive without me."

"Is that the only reason?"

Little-Ace blushed and pretended not to be too affected by the accusation. "I-I don't know, alright? Look, Lu wouldn't be just crying for days if I were to die and I'd prefer him to not cry at all if I can help it. He was even crying when you only mentioned that I died which wasn't even true at all."

"Sorry about that," Luffy said in his usual insincere tone.

"And what's with you and Ace? How did the both of you become lovers anyway?"

Luffy raised an eyebrow and thought for a moment. "It was sometime before Ace left the village. Grandfather came over…" Little-Ace gave a shudder before Luffy continued, "…and hit me really hard. Ace scolded grandfather really badly and brought me back to my room."

"I don't think I need to know the rest," Little-Ace interrupted. "But you were telling the truth when you said that… you needed me to live, right?"

"Of course I was," Luffy responded with a grin and picked Little-Ace up, much to the younger one's dismay. "Boy, you have a lot of questions. Shishishishi."

"H-Hey! Put me down!"

He wasn't going to live a nice life if he were to be carried by /Luffy/ of all people.

"I like you a lot," Luffy said suddenly and kissed his cheek. "Stay with the younger me forever, alright?"

Little-Ace was already blushing a lot by now and was internally fighting off his own embarrassment. Luffy and Little-Luffy always did have this kind of effect on him. "Y-You don't have to tell me that, idiot! Now put me down, please."

"Uh-uh. I'm going to use the fastest way to get to them now that we are close enough."

Before Little-Ace could open his mouth to ask, Luffy had instructed him to hold onto his neck tightly before he stretched each of his arms towards the trees beside them which were a few distances away. When Little-Ace had realized what was Luffy was trying to do, it was already too late when they were already being sent flying in high speed across the air and within a matter of seconds, he could see Ace hugging his Little-Luffy in his view-

-and eventually collided with the unsuspecting duos.

"I'm home!" Luffy called out happily.

"Lu!" Ace exclaimed from the bottom of the pile, holding Luffy, Little-Luffy and Little-Ace in his arms. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?"

"Wait, he always does that?" Little-Ace asked, still feeling dizzy from the ride.

"Yeah. Lu did a lot of crazy things which resulted in both his crew and his own ship being injured fatally."

Little-Ace groaned at the thought of Little-Luffy becoming like his older self while the latter was brightening up in amazement. It was obviously not a good sign. "That was so cool! I want to try that as well!" Little-Luffy exclaimed.

"No you won't!" Little-Ace interjected before Little-Luffy started to have any weird ideas.

Ace groaned as he slowly sat up so that the three on him wouldn't suddenly topple over. Little-Ace had grabbed Little-Luffy and was wedging out of the pile while Luffy remained contented with lying on top of Ace. Snickering playfully, Luffy wrapped his arms around Ace's neck and pulled himself closer to his lover while Ace only sighed in exasperation and lifted his hand up to pat Luffy lightly on the head.

Kissing was out of the question with Little-Ace and Little-Luffy around.

"Aceeeee, I'm hungry," Luffy whined as he nuzzled his face against the crook Ace's neck.

"Yeah, yeah. How do you expect me to cook when you are still straddling me, hmm?"

"But I'm lazy to move tooooo."

Ace laughed and carried Luffy off him, causing Luffy to whine even more while Little-Ace shook his head at the both of them. Little-Luffy was grinning happily and was holding onto one of Little-Ace's hands, making a small barely noticeable blush appear on his cheeks. It had only been a few days but they had gotten a lot more closer than Little-Ace had expected. He had never thought that he would let someone else in his life other than Little-Luffy and Sabo.

Saying goodbyes would definitely not be easy when the time comes.

If it ever does, that is.


	4. Fears, Doubts And Insecurities

Here is the fourth chapter! Thank you everyone once again for the support and reviews! There will be a bonus chapter coming up soon which I highly doubt any of you could guess it's contents. But nevertheless, it's my thanks to all of you out there!

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The day had passed by quickly and the four were already asleep.

Ace decided to start finding a job the next day. Hopefully, he would be able to find one which wouldn't take much of his time and was able to pay him decently. With how attached Luffy was towards him ever since recently, he really could imagine Luffy showing up at wherever he would be working at and… well, nothing usually came out well whenever Luffy was involved. And Ace was pretty sure there wasn't enough places for him to work for if Luffy was going to get him fired everytime he managed to land on one. Little-Ace and Little-Luffy weren't enough of a distraction to keep Luffy away from Ace for long.

Ace loved Luffy a lot, really, but sometimes he wished that Luffy wouldn't throw himself into trouble because of him.

The infiltration at Impel Down and battle at Marineford were two very fine examples.

Meanwhile, as the four was asleep, Luffy was in another one of his nightmares again. Most of them would make him visualize the moments of Ace dying and sometimes it led to something even worse. Sometimes, he would even trash around in his sleep and that was why Ace moved both himself and Luffy away from their younger selfs as far as he could so that they wouldn't be disturbed or accidentally injured.

Ace himself wouldn't keep himself away from Luffy no matter how violent his trashing would get. He needed to wake up and calm Luffy down or else his younger sworn brother and lover would end up injuring himself in the process. No matter what Ace could come up with, Luffy would still get his nightmares in consecutive nights. It was as though nothing he said could help to calm or reassure Luffy for good. But at the very least, Ace knew that it wouldn't be permanent.

The freckled teen stood up after having shaken off his sleepiness state and carried Luffy off somewhere secluded yet near their 'camping site'.

"Wake up, Lu…"

After a few more tries and shaking, Luffy finally opened his eyes which were looking quite swollen up from the crying.

"A-Ace?" Luffy muttered hoarsely.

This was the most heartbreaking part for Ace the most.

"Nightmares again?" Even though Ace clearly knew that it was a nightmare, he wanted to reassure Luffy that what he had been dreaming about was all what it was: A nightmare.

Luffy nodded meekly and hugged Ace tightly, letting go of the choked sob that he had been holding it in. "Y-You died again. And this time, you weren't coming back at all. You weren't waking up at all. Th-Then suddenly, w-we were standing in front of yours and the old man's grave. Jimbe a-also said that you're g-gone and that I should get o-over it so that I could become the next Pirate King… But I-I don't want that when Ace is not around."

Ace continued to listen as he patted Luffy's back gently. The way Luffy had dreamt his nightmares sometimes felt so real that it was a little scary as well. For some reason, Ace felt that if he really had died, Jimbe would've told Luffy what his little brother had dreamt. He wasn't sure about Whitebeard but Ace really hoped that he was still alive.

"Silly Lu. Didn't I tell you that I'm not going to die anytime soon?"

"B-But you almost did. Wh-what if you really did and this whole thing was just a dream instead?"

Ace did have to admit that meeting their younger selfs was a bit too… unreal to be true.

But nevertheless, it was true.

"I know it seemed like a dream. Even I am puzzled as well," he joked with a slight chuckle. When he felt Luffy tensed up, he felt that he shouldn't have said that. "But it's not a dream, Lu. I'm here with you and I'm not going to go anywhere anytime soon."

Luffy shook his head and held onto Ace tighter.

Ace sighed, knowing that it would be difficult for him to break down the insecurities and doubts that Luffy was having right now. He could tell that Luffy was clearly not in his right state of mind and it would take time for him to finally relax enough for his words to get through. Even though this was reality, it wasn't what it should've happened. This strange turn of event wasn't a normal occurrence at all and Luffy knew it.

If they hadn't been sent here then it was a clearcut that Ace would've died and Luffy's nightmare would come true.

Now that Luffy's biggest fear had been triggered, what were the odds of it happening again? The reason why Luffy was never bothered about it was because Ace was immortal in his eyes until that very day when that accursed Akainu decided to continue existing. Ace had worked so hard for many years in order to build up that image for Luffy so that he wouldn't be scared and now that image had been shattered altogether.

"Come on, Lu…" Ace persuaded. "You have to stay strong, alright?"

"I-I just really don't want Ace to leave me…"

"And I'm not going to. Didn't we establish that already?"

"Yeah… b-but…"

"No buts, Lu," he interjected. If it was for Luffy to regain his confidence and strength, Ace would be willing to do anything so that Luffy wouldn't be able to feel fear due to his own insecurities. "I'm staying with you and I'm going to protect you. We'll travel together in the seas from now onwards until we decided to settle down. Then after that… I'll marry you."

Luffy's head lifted up slightly from Ace's shoulder and was tilted upwards slightly to look at him; his face had also brightened up a lot. "M-Marry?"

"Yes, marry. You should know that word since you had been bothering me to do so ever since we were young."

A soft blush had appeared on Luffy's cheeks. "I-I know! I-I just… you will really marry me?"

"Why wouldn't I? Had something wrong happened to your brain or something?" Ace teased while grinning at him cheekily. "You're going to be my wife, Lu. Yes, I'm going to marry you after we're done exploring the damn world."

"Ehhhh? Why couldn't we get married now?"

"Notice our situation, Lu! We're not even in a place that we're supposed to be!"

Sometimes the temptation to hit Luffy was just that strong.

Luffy let out a giggle, having already relieved from his previous horrible thoughts. "But what does it matter? I want to marry Ace now," he demanded childishly.

"Uh, uh. Not now, idiot."

Ace let his hands trailed down to Luffy's sides and slowly lifting his shirt upwards with the sides of each of his pointer fingers, feeling the smoothness of Luffy's rubber skin just underneath his own fingertips and palm. Luffy immediately knew what was Ace going to do and relaxed his hold around Ace.

The freckled teen smiled at Luffy and leaned his head forward, pressing his lips against Luffy's shoulder blade as his hands had already fully slipped into Luffy's shirt. He bit onto his skin lightly and left a mark there before he continued kissing his way towards Luffy's neck. The younger one let out a small moan and tilted his head to the side so that he could give Ace more excess to his skin. If it was possible, Luffy's blush had grown even redder.

During the process, Ace had skillfully moved himself over so that Luffy's back was rested against the wall this time.

"A-Ace…"

"I'm going to make you mine again," he replied softly.

Ace was not only going to do that. He was also going to make Luffy forget about his nightmares and filled this night with nothing but with their intensive time together as a couple. If Luffy couldn't believe that Ace was real, he was going to start making him feel that he was. If Luffy thinks that Ace was lying, he'd turn those 'lies' in his head into nothing but the truths. He'd show him and engrave the truth into his head and body forever.

The next morning, Ace had already made breakfast out of more of the canned food that Dadan had sent to them. The night had been quite tiring but nothing too rough. Although Luffy had some trouble sitting down since they hardly brought their time together till that extent, Ace was still glad that Luffy was able to smile as per normal again. He could tell that the smiles from days before were forced.

Little-Ace and Little-Luffy were eating quietly as well which was quite a strange thing.

Until Little-Luffy decided to break that thought.

"Big brother Luffy, big brother Ace, what were the noises we heard last night? It sounded a lot like the both of you," Little-Luffy asked innocently, making Ace gap at him in shock while Little-Ace had spitted all of his food onto Luffy's face.

"Lu! I told you not to bring it up and forget about it!" Little-Ace reminded sharply. Obviously this one knew what had been going on.

"But it was really strange noises! What were the both of you doing?" Little-Luffy interrogated.

Beads of sweats had started to appear on Ace's forehead while Luffy was wiping the food off his face. "Oh that? We had sex," Luffy replied bluntly.

"LU!" Ace exclaimed when Little-Ace's glare had turned towards his older self while Little-Luffy blinked in confusion.

"Sex? What is that? Is that food?"

"Let's see… it depends on how you do it-"

Ace immediately covered Luffy's mouth while laughing nervously. He had known that there was no way Little-Luffy would've known about that at such a young age. Yes, Little-Ace did but the topic hadn't showed up in any of his own head when he was just a child as well! He just knew about it and that was it. And Little-Ace would never let Ace off for letting innocent Little-Luffy to even think about such a thing.

"You…" Little-Ace started threateningly at his older self.

"Uh… I found a nest full of huge eggs last night!" Ace bursted out without thinking.

"Huge eggs?! Where are they?" Little-Luffy exclaimed excitedly.

Ace sighed in relief when it had actually worked and Little-Ace's glare had softened a lot. Luffy blinked when the hand was still over his mouth, wondering why he couldn't speak what he wanted to before. Oh well… there wasn't really a point for him to now seeing how engrossed Little-Luffy was towards the new discovery. And why was Little-Ace giving Ace such a look? Are they trying to be comical or something?

"I'll take you there later," Little-Ace reassured. "Just finish your food properly and I'll bring you to wash your face later."

"Okay!"

"I'll be looking for a job as soon as I'm done. Remember to wash the dishes, Lu," Ace instructed. At least Sanji had been able to make Luffy to do such an easy task without any destructions. The blonde cook's obsession towards anything related to cooking and eating had made a strict rule in Luffy's head to never fool around while cleaning. "And try to stay out of trouble, you two."

Little-Ace scoffed at him. "Yeah, yeah. It's not as though you were well-behaved either."

Was he talking about himself at the same time?

Ace's eyebrow twitched. "Yeah but I'd rather not be the one to handle the consequences. Man, it sounded a lot more easier to pull off when Dadan was the one who took the edge of it. I really have a lot of respect for that idiot now."

"Shishishishi. Ace is still causing trouble now!" Luffy pointed out.

"Says the danger magnet," Ace retorted.

"Don't worry! I'll keep Ace out of trouble," Little-Luffy said and puffed his chest out in reassurance.

"YOU are the one who we're worried the most!" Little-Ace exclaimed.

Ace and Luffy laughed when Little-Luffy and Little-Ace started their daily little quarrels. At that time, it was impossible for either of them to even think of losing one another. They were just so close with each other physically that it felt as though it was going to stay that way forever. The distance that pulled Luffy and Ace apart had made the both of them yearn for each other more, just to seek that comfort that they wouldn't lose each other.

Even if it was just a small ray of thought, it could very well make as many days passed without worries or pain.


	5. Forgotten Handmade Effort

The bonus chapter is still in progress and hopefully, I would be able to complete it by tomorrow. If there was an erupt delay in my updates, it just meant that I am too tired (I do start writing everyday at around 1AM XD)

Regarding Ace's hat, I don't think this is any canon backstory to it so just treat it as though it is my own headcanon.

* * *

The next day, Ace had already set off for Goa Kingdom after having breakfast.

He had to admit that it was becoming uncomfortable for him to wear a top when it wasn't snowing. The shirt he wore was of a color red while he left it completely unbuttoned and showing his abs to the world. However, Ace was also oblivious to the stares that he had gotten, mostly from the female population, ever since he had entered the place. He never did have anytime to pay attention to any women other than Dadan and Makino. He already have Luffy to please on his hands.

"Where should I start," he mumbled while looking around for any job recruitment posters.

Being a cook would probably be a bad idea since he may accidentally set the food on fire. He may be able to control it well now but his own crew members still didn't allow him to step a foot inside the kitchen. There was also a problem of his narcolepsy in present which if he had to take it into an account, he would have to eliminate ninety-five percent of the possible jobs he had in his mind. Life was tough.

But for now, he just decided to walk around until he found something which would be able to catch his interest. Being a pirate was a lot more relaxing than a normal human being, it seemed. Or maybe it was just Ace being picky as usual. At least he wasn't sent off to being a Marine like how Garp had threatened him to and would have when he was young if Luffy hadn't cried waterfalls at the thought of being separated from him. He could just love the kid to death.

"Ace?" A gentle, feminine voice called out towards him.

"Hmm? Oh, Makino," Ace greeted.

"I thought it was you. What are you doing out here all by yourself? Did you and Luffy get into a fight by any chance?" Makino giggled at the thought. Even though Ace and Luffy had definitely seemed closer, Makino was more used to Little-Ace and Little Luffy's antics.

"Of course not. Why was that even the first thought in your head?" There was mock hurt in his tone.

Makino laughed at him and shook his head. "I'm sorry. It's just difficult to imagine the both of you not fighting for more than a week. The two of you had really grown up a lot… I'm glad to be able to see it. By the way, what are you doing out here by yourself?"

"I'm… trying to look for a job."

"A job? But weren't what we brought for you enough?"

"Yeah but I feel bad for taking it just like that so I was thinking that maybe I could earn some to pay you guys back or survive on our own," Ace replied.

Makino gave him a thoughtful look. "Eh… Looks like you really had grown up to be a fine young man," she remarked. "But I'm glad either way. Looks like Luffy is going to be in good hands. He didn't seemed to have changed a bit."

"Worse, in fact," Ace added in dreadfully.

"I thought so."

After chatting for awhile more, Ace was accompanying Makino after she had stated that she was doing some grocery shopping. Even in his own timeline, it had been years since he had returned to his own village. Even though the Makino from this timeline wasn't the one from his, he was still able to feel a sense of familiarity. It was, without a doubt, the same Makino who had taught him how to act on better mannerism. Maybe he should send Little-Ace to her so that he would be educated earlier for his own sake.

"You and Luffy are lovers, aren't you?"

"Yeah, we are."

"I see. It was kind of unexpected but I guess I wasn't really all that surprised when I found out," Makino stated thoughtfully. "Even though the both of you fight a lot, Luffy seemed to be more attached towards you and you wouldn't let anyone get close to you other than Luffy. It was really difficult thinking of either of you being with anyone else other than each other."

Ace raised an eyebrow at her. "You guys actually tried to think of that?"

"Dadan once mentioned that no one would be insane enough to match either of you two guys' level."

"Heh. I don't mind at all."

"How was it being a pirate? I'm sure that you and Luffy had a lot of trouble in your hands, right? With what I've heard a pirate's life was like, I doubt there would even be enough time for the both of you to settle down to have tea. Luffy is the kind who needed attention, yours more than others."

Ace waved his hand lazily. "Nah. There is nothing to worry about. Luffy has his own crew to deal with him while I've got mine. Even though we don't meet each other often in the seas, nothing between us would change except for the better. But I do worry about him a lot. He is a really damn reckless kid."

Makino turned her head towards him with a smile. "He is. That's why he would need his older brother and lover to protect him. Although he has his own crew, I doubt that his crew would be as experienced as you to be able to completely subdue Luffy."

"You got that right," Ace agreed.

He did hear stories about how Luffy would even accidentally injure his own friends. From using his rubber techniques to get themselves back to their boat the fastest yet the most painful way possible while accidentally hitting them with his own techniques while fighting with the Marines. Ace wasn't sure whether he should be proud or worry for his crew members to be able to withstand Luffy for such a long time. He would give them credit for having such high tolerance level.

But then again, Ace didn't think it would be possible for anyone to detach themselves from Luffy after being friends with him. He just gave people the feeling that they could stick around him as true friends despite giving them troubles.

Thinking back at the time whereby he shunned Luffy off when the other had only wanted to be friends with him, in the end even his stubborn side couldn't win Luffy at all. Before he knew it, Ace had already grown attached and fond of that annoying brat. Luffy just made him feel safe in a way that he would never be betrayed or backstabbed ever. It was the same feeling Luffy could give to his other friends and comrades he had gained in Impel Down as well.

"I was a bit selfish back then," he spoke up, referring to the time whereby he hadn't thought much about his own life at Marineford. "Even when Luffy was fighting so hard for me at that time, I had already given up. It seemed as though I was also giving up on and taking away what Luffy had needed the most."

Even though Makino didn't know what was Ace specifically talking about, she could still understand it. "To Luffy… you're worth more than a million One Piece. To us, you're an irreplaceable child. You might not have thought that your life was worth it but the value, to the people around you, had became so much priceless."

"Makino…"

"I don't think you knew about it but Luffy had once tried to make a hat for you too."

Ace blinked at her in confusion. "A hat?"

"The one that you are wearing now. You were always outside and Luffy started to worry after some of Dadan's friends told him about something relating to a fried head. Dadan's friends often told Luffy funny stories about how you might get stung by bees on the forehead or melt into a puddle under the sunlight because you didn't have any hat."

Remind himself to tell Little-Ace about it so that the both of them could beat the crap out of those idiots.

"So naturally, Luffy panicked and came to me on how to make one rather than asking me to help him get one. I'm sure that he wanted to be the one to protect you at that time."

"So… Luffy made this? Wasn't it bought by you?"

Makino laughed and shook her head. "Unfortunately, Luffy wasn't very skilled in making that hat and it turned out to be very messy. Even though it was probably wearable, Luffy didn't give it to you because Dadan's friends had told him how you would look stupid in it and would get mad at Luffy. But I am thinking of taking it and fixing it. Since you're wearing it now, I supposed that I already did that. As for why Luffy didn't tell you that he was the one who made it… I think it is because he still isn't happy that he didn't do a good job."

Forget beating. Ace could just strangle them.

"Is it still around?" Ace asked.

"Hmm? I suppose it should be somewhere in Luffy's room. He started making it around two months ago and just glued those two cute faces on the hat. He said that the one smiling was him and the grumpy one looked like you."

He didn't know whether to feel touched or insulted. But still… Luffy still made it.

"Alright, thanks!"

After searching throughout the town for another few more hours, Ace decided to call it a day and headed towards Dadan's house instead. He wasn't going to beat up Dadan's men but instead to retrieve the hat instead. Even if he already had one of his own, it would be nice if Little-Ace were to be able to get something like this from Little-Luffy personally. At the same time, he could also prod fun around his own Luffy as well.

He had to admit that with the way the hat was probably made from glue, it was bound to collapse someday.

But hey, it weren't as bad as it would make Little-Ace or him looked stupid. At least it did somewhat resembled a hat… a pretty messy hat but at least Little-Luffy could've made up an excuse like, it was a new style or something like that. Of course Ace himself wouldn't be bothered by it since he wasn't going to wear it. Little-Ace, on the other hand… Ace was just sure that Little-Ace would wear it.

After retrieving the hat, he made his way back to their campsite whereby Little-Ace and Little-Luffy had already caught a huge bear for their dinner.

Great.

"Hey!" Ace called out.

Luffy perked up immediately and waved. "Aceeee!"

"Yo," Little-Ace greeted unenthusiastically as usual while Little-Luffy merely mimicked his older self's actions.

"Looks like you guys caught a big one today," Ace complimented before switching his gaze to Little-Luffy. "By the way, didn't you have something to give him?" he asked, earning a confused look from both of the kids. Ace finally showed what he had been hidding behind his back and lightly threw it towards Little-Luffy.

Luffy and Little-Luffy's eyes widened at what the latter had caught.

Wasn't this…?

"Ace?" Luffy looked up at him for confirmation.

"Makino told me about it," he replied with a grin and sat down beside Luffy.

"Lu? What is that?" Little-Ace asked.

Little-Luffy looked at Little-Ace nervously. He was about to lie that it was nothing until he caught Ace's knowing grin. It was then he knew that he was stuck because even if Little-Luffy had lied now, Little-Ace would find out anyway. Heck, Little Ace's older self already found out about it! The only reason why Little-Luffy had been keeping it because he still wasn't sure if he should keep himself from giving it to Little-Ace.

"I-I made it," Little-Luffy mumbled, "for you."

"For me?" Little-Ace asked in confusion and looked down at the… hatt, right?

"The others had been telling me that Ace would get into danger because you goes out a lot and didn't have a hat protect your head. So I thought that maybe… I should make one for you but they said that you would look stupid if you wore it and you would get mad at me…"

It was no doubt that it had been Dadan's men who had been teasing Little-Luffy.

Little-Ace glanced down at the hat and sighed. "Idiot. It looks fine," he said instead and took the hat away from Little-Luffy's hand to wear it onto his own head to prove it. "There. It looks fine, isn't it?"

Little-Luffy looked up at Little-Ace completely and brightened up. "Do you like it?"

"It's not bad," Little-Ace replied instead. "You… How long have you been making this?"

"Uh… about two months ago, I think. I just finished making the two faces on top of the hat! It looks a lot like us. Of course, Ace is the grumpy one!"

Little-Ace's eyebrow twitched and proceeded to bonk Little-Luffy over the head at the remark before deciding to forgive him.

"Idiot," Little-Ace muttered. "You forgot to attach two strings so that I could hang it on my back. I'll teach you how to do that."

Little-Luffy nodded excitedly. "Okay! I'm glad that Ace liked it!"

Luffy grinned as the memory played back into his mind. It was the first time he had made something for Ace but he had never given it to him. To him, the hat hat he made didn't seemed strong enough to protect him from the sunrays. But even when Makino had fixed it up for him, he still wasn't able to give it to Ace out of embarrassment and told Makino to give it to him without telling it that it was handmade by him instead.

"It looks good," Luffy commented with a wide grin.

"Then maybe you should've given it to me," Ace teased.

Luffy huffed. "The younger you already has it anyway. Besides, you already have a hat of your own," he pointed out and tapped the orange hat on Ace's head with his finger. "But it'd be better if Makino were to fix it again."

"I can help to patch it up."

"Nah. You might just end up burning it," Luffy remarked while making a face and dodging Ace's oncoming fist at the same time.


	6. BONUS CHAPTER, Let's Not Be Parents

Here is a bonus chapter for you guys! I don't know if any of you expected this but... ENJOY!

Notes: Hints of MarcoxSanji

**Many thanks to** **Neko-VongolaPrimo, NamikazeMia, Dorito Monkey D. Nyan, InaudibleScream, Xxferessa-TanXx, The Madness Of My Life, StrawberryGirlKairi, Portgas D. Paula, Hotaru Jaegerjaquez, Nekozm-chan, MeikoKuran999, Son Goshen, Anjelle, XxSaorixX, MatchboxLuffy and people who had favourited and subscribed to the story! I hope that you will continue supporting it!**

* * *

"Come back here with Luffy!" Ace shouted as he chased after the fastest toddler on earth. "I really can't believe that I used to be like that," he grumbled.

Baby-Ace was crawling all around place with a giggling Baby-Luffy tied onto his back. No one knew how Baby-Ace was able to learn how to tie a knot but according to Dadan, the troublesome child was full of surprises. Everyone of them could only dread of what would happen if Baby-Luffy were to grow up as well. Dandan, of course, had a much easier time since she only had to take care of Baby-Ace. As for Ace and Luffy… some time traveling really had landed them in a pile of trouble.

But payback certainly was sweet.

But this time, the time traveling didn't bring them to the toddlers but instead, it brought the toddlers to them! After Shanks had interfered with the war barely before Ace could get roasted by Akainu, everyone had decided to stay at Marineford until backup ships could be sent to them since theirs were pretty much in smithereens. Before they knew it, they found the toddlers wandering around on the beach. They took them in before finally realizing who they were.

As for the rest of their crews… they were just smart not to get involved.

"Uwah uwah!" Baby-Ace continued to crawl while babbling in his baby language.

"How could a toddler have so much stamina. Oi Luffy! Help me out here!" Ace called out in desperation.

Luffy finally walked out of the forest after finishing his business. He raised an eyebrow at Ace who was chasing around Baby-Ace around the house. Wait, how did his baby self get tied onto Baby-Ace's back anyway. And how did everything turn into like this when all Luffy did was go into the forest for some private business? Luffy really should stop eating food brought by Garp but how could he resist rice crackers and doughnuts?

"A-ce~" Luffy called out and opened his arms wide.

Baby-Ace turned his head towards Luffy, whom he had taken a strong liking towards ever since Ace and Luffy found the toddlers, and crawled towards Luffy happily instead. He finally stopped in front of Luffy, he went into a sitting position and stretched his arms out. Ace used this chance to quickly untie Baby-Luffy and carried the younger toddler in his arms. Boy, that was really some exercise.

"Giving your older self trouble again? Good job!" Luffy praised as he picked Baby-Ace up.

"Oi!"

Baby-Ace giggled at the compliment and snuggled against Luffy happily while Baby-Luffy played with Ace's necklace again.

The first time Ace and Luffy had found them on the beach, Luffy couldn't believe that Baby-Ace was actually Ace. The little one was practically giggling and laughing all over the place in a cutesy way which Luffy wouldn't have thought that he would be able to get used to. Ace, even after Luffy had met him, was either grumpy or just calm. Even if he did laugh, it would be nothing like how Baby-Ace would pull off.

But Baby-Luffy… Ace just recognized him right away when the little one had bumped into a rock while he was trying to get to Ace. But that was not all, he didn't even cry and still continued to crawl towards him. And when he did, he would cry. Plus, the scar beneath his left eye was recognizable.

"Ah~!" Baby-Luffy called out.

"Hmm?"

"Ah… Ah… si!"

Was that Baby-Luffy trying to call out his name? It sounded close enough.

Ace immediately brought Baby-Luffy close towards him and enveloped him in a very loving hug, commenting how cute he was being and nuzzling his cheeks against a very happy Luffy's cheeks. It was fun to see Ace acting silly like that so Baby-Luffy would constantly try to get his attention which worked more than half the time. Subsequently, he did a lot more things that had succeeded in Ace becoming all loving on him.

"Ace, I'm hungry," Luffy complained while still holding onto Baby-Ace.

"Already? But you just ate not too long ago… But now that you mention it, I am kind of hungry too."

"I'll get some food for us so hold onto him for me," Luffy informed and plopped Baby-Ace into Ace's arms… which Ace was a bit reluctant to oblige to. "I'll be back soon!" Luffy called out and dashed back into the forest.

"Awah! Uwah! Ahhh~!" Baby-Ace continued to make noises while he was shifting himself closer towards Baby-Luffy. He giggled when Baby-Luffy had leaned down towards him and held the smaller toddler in his arms protectively. "Luuuuuu~!"

Ace couldn't help but let out a small sigh at that. As difficult as Baby-Ace was to handle, at least he was loving towards Baby-Luffy as well. But who wouldn't be able to love Baby-Luffy or Luffy for that matter? Even Ace couldn't him but fall in love with his own Luffy as well. These two toddlers were bound to have something big in their life when they grew up. Ace wasn't even sure if he or Luffy would be there to see it.

"Uuuuu…" Baby-Luffy cooed, resting himself against Baby-Ace within his arms.

They were just irresistibly adorable.

"The both of you are going to be the death of me someday," Ace mumbled.

A few minutes later, Luffy burst into the house while carrying a huge bear. Now that was quick but it shouldn't be a surprise seeing how much Luffy had complained that he was hungry. Ace placed the toddlers on the floor, mentally praying that they wouldn't cause anymore mess, and hauled the bear into the kitchen so that he could cut it up. Luffy sat down crossed legs on the floor and beckoned the toddlers to him.

Which Baby-Ace obviously did.

And caused Baby-Luffy to follow.

And Baby-Ace seemed to be in bliss having both Luffy and Baby-Luffy at his side. If Ace were any better, he would've been jealous at his own baby self and try to make Luffy stay away from Baby-Ace as much as possible. It also didn't help that Luffy had commented that Baby-Ace was a lot more likable but a quick add-on that it would be impossible for Luffy to love Baby-Ace like how he did for Ace managed to close up that wound.

Finally, Ace returned from the kitchen with a huge plate of meat.

"Well, we might as well start cooking now."

"Shishishishi. We're counting on you, Ace!"

Ace rolled his eyes and laid onto his back with his head resting comfortably on one of Luffy's crossed legs. Meanwhile, Luffy stretched his arms to get the aluminum foil on the table and spread it on top of Ace before spreading the oil over it. After that, Ace turned the top of his body into small flames and… the cooking starts!

He really didn't know why Luffy had insisted to use this method other than the fact that it was fun. They do have proper equipments to start up a fire on their own but Luffy had insisted on getting his way with those annoying, adorable puppy eyes. Baby-Ace and Baby-Luffy seemed to enjoy this as well as they would giggle everytime they started this. It seemed fun for them to watch someone burst into flames. Ace sometimes worries for them.

"H-Hey, don't do that," Ace scolded when Baby-Luffy had climbed onto his face.

Baby-Ace watched Ace and Baby-Luffy for a few moments before jumping on the other end of the spot which the aluminum foil didn't cover. And with how Ace's body suddenly jolted accompanied by a yell of pain, Luffy had a pretty good idea where did the little critter had jumped onto.

"Ace, if you keep moving around then I can't cook properly," Luffy complained.

"Why don't you try being in my position?!" Ace shouted while trying not to turn his body sideways in pain.

Luffy snickered and bent over to carry Baby-Ace from where Ace's legs to set him onto his own. Baby-Luffy had already taken up the spot at the side of Ace's head and was just touching Ace's face. Baby-Ace squealed when he was being carried and was overjoyed when he tilted his head up to find that it was Luffy. The toddler tilted his head up and gave Luffy a small kiss on the mouth with a small 'Chu'.

"Oi! Don't kiss MY Luffy!" Ace shouted angrily.

Luffy chuckled and shook his head. "It's fine, isn't it? He is still you after all."

"It isn't fine! Just wait until I get my hands on him…!"

"Silly Ace," Luffy commented with another laugh and leaned down to kiss his lips to make his brother slash lover feel better. "Just calm down now. You're losing control over the fire and if you don't stop, our meat are going to get charred."

Ace huffed and lowered the temperature.

"What are you guys doing, yoi?" Macro asked when he finally came to check up on them with Sanji in tow. "Ace's little brother. Your crew just arrived, yoi. Blondie here made quite a feast out there so come on and join us."

"It's Sanji."

Ace's right eyebrow twitched. "Are. You. Blind?"

"You shouldn't even be cooking food like this," Sanji scolded and blew out the smoke after taking the cigarette out of his mouth. "I'll continue preparing the meat so just head to our campsite."

"Okay! Food!" Luffy shouted happily and darted towards where the feast was being held.

Ace let out a few grumbles of curses and removed the aluminum foil and meat off him. At least he wouldn't have to look any more stupid now. He carried Baby-Ace and Baby-Luffy towards their campsite while walking past Marco who was giving him quite the sympathetic look. Then he turned towards Sanji who was picking up the meat from the ground and putting it onto a bag.

"You're not going to cook them, yoi?"

"Of course I am but not now. I'm pretty tired now so I'm just going to store these for tomorrow."

"Sorry about that. We have a pretty huge crew along with our allies who had joined us. But you made pretty good food, yoi."

Sanji put the cigarette back into his mouth and slung the bag over his shoulder. "It's no trouble. Seeing people enjoy my food makes it worthwhile."

"Is that so? Maybe you would like to join our crew, yoi? I could take care of you," Marco joked but wouldn't mind bringing Sanji in for real if he were to agree.

"Nah. I'm forever stuck with our hopeless captain. I'm sure I'm the only cook who could stand a glutton like him," Sanji remarked with a smirk. "But thanks for the offer anyway."

"Pity. I'm sure everyone in my crew would jump overboard for a great cook like you, yoi. It's too bad that Ace's little brother got you in before we did."

Sanji chuckled and shook his head. "Even if we were to meet before Luffy came along, it's a high possibility that I would join too. Other than Luffy, that shitty old man Zeff would be my next top priority in staying with. Our captain is just… persistent."

"Zeff, huh. The Red-Leg Zeff. Whitebeard and Zeff had came across each other before, yoi. No wonder your fighting style seemed familiar."

"Hmm, yeah. That shitty old man doesn't leave mercy when he was training me. But I owe him a great deal," Sanji spoke casually before he turned his head towards Marco with a grin. "By the way, have you ever heard of All Blue?"

Marco grinned back at him. "Enlighten me, yoi."


	7. Of Hugs And Kisses

Geez! I took a long time updating this fic and damn right, I'm ashamed about it. u/u Anyway, I'll be juggling both 'It's Time For A Change!' and this fic the most. I'll be having a plot for this fic which would take quite some more chapters to finish. I would love to just finish it off in two more chapters but my plot scumbag wouldn't allow me to do that.

**MatchBoxLuffy: Because unlike this story, the chapter took place in Ace and Luffy's timeline. xD So instead of being sent back to the past, the past was being sent to them instead. :DD And thank you! I've been shipping Marco and Sanji for awhile now. ouo**

**Anjelle: Thank you! This fic always gives me an opportunity to be as sappy as possible. uwu Although it's still kind of hard to get too sappy due to Luffy's oblivious nature. OTL**

**Dorito Monkey D. Nyan Cat: Omg! That's an expensive price but I would buy it anyway. :D**

* * *

After Ace had gotten back from another tiring day of job scouting, he wasn't pleased to see Little-Ace and Little-Luffy looking as though they had been roughed up by people Ace had a feeling he might have to go and beat up. He didn't blame the two small children but he was quite angry with how the adults would even consider picking on Little-Luffy. Luffy, on the other hand, was trying to get Little-Luffy to stop crying and looked as though he was about to shout too. Ace's dislike of people crying really had rubbed off on Luffy but at least Ace was more… polite about it now. But that didn't apply to his temper, of course.

If it weren't for the fact that Little-Luffy was still crying and Little-Ace needed help with the bandages, Ace would've charged towards Goa Kingdom and beat every single citizens in there. It wasn't the greatest plan he thought of but he had always wanted to do that.

"Ah, stop crying already," Luffy groaned when Little-Luffy didn't stop.

"Just shut up already!" Little-Ace snapped.

"The both of you should try and be nicer," Ace scolded and scooped Little-Luffy into his arms. How could they not see that Little-Luffy was scared? "There, there. Stop crying now, Lu. Big brother is here and I'll beat up those imbeciles if you let me know how they look like."

That's not a comforting material, Ace.

Little-Luffy continued to sob and had gotten to clinging onto Ace… something which Little-Ace obviously wasn't happy about. "I-It was scary. A-Ace was a-about to get hit by their b-bullets. I was scared th-that Ace would die and i-it's my fault!"

"I won't die that easily!"

"It's not your fault, Lu," Ace comforted and patted the back of Little-Luffy's head while the little one was crying into his shoulder. "Big brother promise that he won't die, okay? I wouldn't leave you alone in this world," he murmured and kissed Little-Luffy's forehead.

Little-Luffy looked up while biting onto his own bottom lips and nodded. "O-Okay."

Ace chuckled and hugged Little-Luffy close to him while moving to sit down on one of the rocks. He rubbed Little-Luffy's back soothingly while occasionally bouncing him lightly in his arms and let out a sigh. "You guys should stop fighting so much with them."

Little-Ace and Luffy stared at him.

"Maybe I shouldn't be saying that but I kind of value my life after watching what Luffy and my friends went through for my sake, alright? I don't want Luffy or anyone to be sad if you died," Ace said to Little-Ace. "I know how you think because I used to be you, remember."

"It's not like it's going to change anything," Little-Ace grumbled. "They still hate me and thinks that I should be out of this world anyway."

Luffy frowned at Little-Ace's pessimism; Luffy only knew so much of how little Ace thought of himself. "If that's what they think just let them think like that. I want Ace to be with me," Luffy said firmly. "And Ace is going to have a lot of friends who would think the same way as I do."

"I didn't meet them so my views wouldn't change," Little-Ace snapped.

"But you still have us, don't you?" Luffy pointed out, motioning to Little-Luffy and himself. He placed a hand on the top of Little-Ace's head and grinned. "Try not to think too much. If you want to live then just live. That's why you're still here with us, right?"

"You wouldn't understand. My father is dangerous and infamous for bringing other people trouble. You should know how much trouble he created for the people and those things ended up falling onto my shoulder," Little-Ace spat.

Luffy sighed. "If you put it that way, my father caused a lot of trouble for the Marines too. My father is Monkey D. Dragon."

"Monkey D. Dragon?! Dragon?!" Little-Ace repeated. Obviously, he had heard of his name and it would be weird for anyone not to.

"Eh?" Little-Luffy turned his head around after having already dried his tears. "Dragon? He is a dragon? Cool!"

"Not that kind of dragon, Lu," Little-Ace pointed out with a groan. "You never knew who your father was?"

"No. I told you before that I only have gramps," Little-Luffy replied.

"I think he is in something called the Revolutionary Army or something like that," Luffy replied. Apparently, he didn't know much about his father until Garp decided to tell him on one fine day. However, Luffy didn't look much into it since he didn't care how much trouble his father created for the Marines. He was just glad that his father was alive and was confident that he would meet him one day. Until then, whatever he does, Luffy wouldn't condemn him for it.

Ace let out a sigh at Luffy's lack of knowledge. "Dragon is the head of the Revolutionary Army that is trying to overthrow the World Government and is currently their most wanted criminal. No one knew how strong he is but I supposed that he must be a lot stronger than we can think seeing how he is gramps's son and labelled as the most dangerous man in the world. However, people only knew him as 'Dragon' until Sengoku announced Luffy's father."

"So he is not a dragon?" Little-Luffy asked in disappointment.

"No he isn't," Little-Ace replied with an irritated sigh. "If he was a dragon, you'd either be a dragon or a half-dragon."

Little-Luffy's eyes brightened. "Half-dragon sounds cool!"

"But you're not one so don't even think about it," Little-Ace interjected. "I don't know how you can keep thinking on how your father couldn't be a dragon when there are much more important details to be focusing on."

Little-Luffy and Luffy tilted their heads to the side. "Important details?"

"I give up," Little-Ace groaned and threw his hands up in defeat. "Come on, Lu. We're going to bathe now."

"Okay!" Little-Luffy chirped up and hopped onto the ground beside Little-Ace.

Little-Ace took Little-Luffy's hand and started to lead them to the spring whereby they usually have their baths. Meanwhile, Ace and Luffy sat in silence until the two brothers were out of sight. Luffy had never asked about his brothers so Robin didn't find it a point to bring it up to him needlessly either. Unlike Ace, Luffy also didn't think it would matter if people were to hate him since he was a pirate with a huge bounty on his head anyway. He was already well prepared to be disliked as a pirate so how would being disliked for being Dragon's son be any different? Luffy was already a criminal on his own.

"Ace, you don't hate me, right?" Luffy asked.

"Of course not. Why would you think that?" Ace questioned in surprise.

Luffy gave him a grin. "As long as Ace doesn't hate me, I'm fine with anything. Although… even if Ace were to hate me, I couldn't blame my father for what he did anyway. I heard that he helped a lot of people and… that's good, I guess."

"I won't hate you for a reason as stupid as that," Ace reassured and kissed Luffy on the lips. "As long as you're not bothered then I don't have a reason to."

"Do you still hate your father?"

"I… don't know," Ace admitted slowly. "I still won't see him as a father but I don't think I hate him as much as I did when I was younger. It felt more like I don't feel the need to be conscious about him being my father anymore ever since I joined the Whitebeard Pirates. But it seemed that there are still people who were still affected by my father's actions," he said and let out a humorless chuckle.

"The man already understood, Ace," Luffy pointed out, knowing that he was talking about Squard of the Whirlpool Spider. "I think it's stupid since we should know that we're probably going to die when we become pirates. I like your father because he is pretty cool."

Ace gave him a weary look. "I don't think killing other people is anywhere near cool."

"But he fought for his dreams." And Luffy honestly didn't think that the reason why Ace's father killed people was because they didn't want to kill him. "Besides, he gave birth to Ace and I'm very thankful to him for that!"

"Silly Lu," Ace mumbled as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. He could never win an argument against Luffy when it came to certain topics. "Don't talk about dying so easily next time. You're not going to die and neither am I."

"Ace almost died," Luffy reminded solemnly.

"I'm sorry about that," Ace apologized sincerely and ran his hand through Luffy's hair. How could he not value his own life now that Luffy had made his point clear on how much Ace meant to him? Ace really felt that he had been selfish for treating his own life as nothing. "I'll try my best to prevent my death as long as you're still around," he promised.

Luffy huffed at him and folded his arms. "You're going to do that as long as you live. Not as long as /I/ live."

"There wouldn't be a point for me living if you weren't around," he admitted softly and slipped his arm around Luffy's waist to pull him closer to him. "I'll make sure that no one tries to kill you too. I'm going to make sure that damned Blackbeard doesn't go anywhere near you."

"The one who almost got you killed?" Luffy asked and frowned. "I'd be more worried about you."

Ace rolled his eyes and snorted. "Don't get cocky, Lu. Just because he had my guard down once doesn't mean that you can defeat him. He's strong and I'll give him that but he still won't be the Pirate King."

"Of course because I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

Ace chuckled in response and lifted Luffy onto his lap with his arm still wrapped around his waist. He tilted his head down to rest it on Luffy's smaller shoulder and buried his nose against the crook of Luffy's neck. The younger one welcomed the gesture by resting his own cheek on the back of Ace's head and moved his arm around to rest his hand on the back of Ace's neck. A small blush appeared on Luffy's cheeks when Ace tilted his head again and pressed his lips against Luffy's collarbone, which caused Luffy to release the breath that he had been holding back for awhile now.

"A-Ace…"

"Luffy," Ace murmured. He placed his free hand on one side of Luffy's cheek and looked up at him with a loving gaze. "You make me want you so badly." Ace moved his hand to the back of Luffy's head and pushed it lightly downwards so that Ace could press his lips against Luffy's own soft ones.

"Then you should visit us more," Luffy mumbled back against the kiss.

The freckled teen pushed both of their lips against each other more and started sucking onto Luffy's bottom lip before pushing his tongue inside Luffy's mouth. Luffy welcomed the intrusion and was quick to move his own tongue around Ace's within his own mouth. They shared this heated kiss with each other before they finally broke apart due to the need of air.

"I'll keep that in mind once we find a way to get back," Ace promised with a small smile afterwards and allowed Luffy to lift his head back up.

Luffy pursed his lips together and instead of replying, he held Ace closer to him. He wanted to be able to be this close with Ace as much as possible. Ever since Ace had left the group in Alabasta, Luffy's desire to see his older brother had grown during each passing days. He often wished that Ace would drop by one day so that they could hold each other again. However, it didn't happen and by the time Luffy next saw him, he was looking at Ace's execution instead. And it wasn't a very lovely sight.

Ace closed his eyes and enjoyed being held by Luffy for once. But he couldn't seem to sit still in Luffy's arms and had to occasionally turn his head so that he could brush his lips against Luffy's skin. He enjoyed hearing how much these soft actions could make Luffy's breath hitched, and he could sometimes hear soft noises coming out from Luffy's mouth. Every single reaction Luffy gave him just made Ace wanted to tease him more.

Suddenly, a bucket flew over and connected to the side of Ace's head.

"Go and shower, dirty perverts," Little-Ace grumbled as he pulled Little-Luffy by the hand towards the fishes they had caught today.

* * *

"Ace, what were they doing?" Little-Luffy asked when they were preparing the fish to cook.

"Doing something that they could've done in a bush," Little-Ace grumbled. Part of the reason why he had gotten so pissed off at seeing Ace and Luffy being so loving was that he couldn't do the same to Little-Luffy. Not only would Little-Luffy would tell everyone in the world, Little-Ace was also too embarrassed to let Little-Luffy know about his feelings. On top of that, Little-Luffy would just feel like doing it even though he had no idea what the heck did it entail. "Just forget you saw that just now."

"But it looked really fun! I want to do it with Ace too," Little-Luffy demanded.

See what he meant?

"No, Lu."

"But why not?" Little-Luffy whined and Little-Ace knew that it was going to take a lot out of him to explain. Heck, Little-Ace didn't even know what kind of explanation Little-Luffy would accept. Most probably, none. "Does Ace hates me? That's why Ace didn't want to hold me?"

Little-Ace gaped at him in shock. Little-Ace knew that Little-Luffy was most probably pulling an act so that he could get what he wanted but Little-Ace could feel himself slowly falling into it. "I-I don't hate you," he mumbled.

"Then holding me should be okay, right?"

"I-I didn't say that!" Little-Ace snapped.

"Then what's wrong with holding me? I want Ace to hold me close like how big brother Ace and big brother Luffy does to each other," Little-Luffy protested while puffing out his cheeks and swinging his arms around childishly. "Aceeee. I want Aceeeee."

"Gah! You annoying little," Little-Ace cried and finally pulled Little-Luffy into a hug. "There, are you happy now?"

Little-Luffy blinked and giggled happily. He wrapped his arms around Little-Ace and nuzzled his cheek against Little-Ace's shirt. The small freckled child blushed when Little-Luffy was starting to cuddle against him affectionately. He could only hope that no one was around and that the two older counterparts would take a longer time to shower. That'd be bad too considering what they would have to do to take so much time but Little-Ace could hardly care at this point. He had Little-Luffy in his arms and as much as he wouldn't want to admit it, he kind of liked it.

"I'm very happy! Thanks, Ace and I love you lots!" Little-Luffy declared while looking up at Little-Ace with eyes of adoration.

Little-Ace just couldn't take it and his nose started to bleed.

"Wah! Are you alright, Ace? Is your injuries still hurting?" Little-Luffy asked in concern.

"I-It's nothing," Little-Ace mumbled. Damn it. Little-Luffy was a sneaky one for making Little-Ace let his guard down for a second there! Or maybe it was just Little-Ace who had problems. "W-We should continue with the fishes."

"Eh? But I want to stay like this longer," Little-Luffy complained.

Little-Ace sighed and hugged Little-Luffy back against his chest. "Just for a few more seconds, alright?"

Little-Luffy nodded and rested his small body frame against Little-Ace's while closing his eyes. Everything seemed so quiet and Little-Luffy was oddly content with it. Perhaps it was because he was too engrossed in feeling the weird sensation of being held by Little-Ace and didn't want his own talking to interrupt. It was different from how Ace held him and it felt better having Little-Ace, who was only slightly taller than him, to hold him.

Little-Luffy made a small noise when he finally lifted his head from Little-Ace's chest. "I guess we have to make the fishes now," he mumbled in disappointment. Before Little-Ace could react, Little-Luffy suddenly stood on his toes and pressed his lips against his. When Little-Luffy finally pulled away, his own cheeks were red and was looking at Little-Ace shyly. "I wanted to give something in return for the hug you gave me," he said with a grin before fully releasing Little-Ace to tend to the fishes.

When Ace and Luffy returned from their shower, they wondered why Little-Ace was standing frozen in his spot with a massive nosebleed.

* * *

Woo! I feel accomplished now! Time to head to bed for real!


	8. I'll Turn Bad For You

Sorry for the long wait! I present you the next chapter! Although it's kind of short. u.u

**Anjelle: Hahaha, thanks a lot! I hadn't have much time in updating my fics due to my recent woes. xD **

**Sparrow1011: Get it on? You mean sex? -slapped- They already done it in a chapter but I just didn't write out the scene. ;x And don't worry, Ace would rather hog Luffy in the bathe. :p**

**Dorito Monkey D. Nyan Cat: YES! Little-Ace and Little-Luffy are cute! XD**

**ASLfangirl: I try my best to please. :P I like to write cute scenes too~**

**sakura240: I'm pretty sure I had more nosebleed than Little-Ace or Ace would ever have :P I want to hog Luffy tooooo!**

* * *

Little-Ace made his way past through the trees in haste as he chanted a series of curses in his head.

It was his fault! It was all his fault!

If he hadn't provoked those adults then Little-Luffy wouldn't be in this situation. Apparently after those adults were beaten up, they had sent their friends to follow Little-Ace and Little-Luffy all the way to their current home in Gray Terminal. During night time when everyone was asleep, they proceeded to kidnap Little-Luffy and left a note saying that he would die if Liittle-Ace doesn't show up at a certain place alone which means he couldn't get Ace or Luffy to help either. Even though during under normal circumstances, Little-Ace would be confident to beat up those adults alone, they have Little-Luffy in their hands!

He had to make sure of Little-Luffy's safety first, damn it.

After losing Sabo, he couldn't afford to lose Little-Luffy too. He was his only brother left in the world and if anything happened to him, Little-Ace would never forgive himself this time. No matter how much Little-Ace had pushed Little-Luffy away, the other would just come back to him with a force that was twice as hard. He didn't want those moments to disappear no matter how much he acted as though he disliked it.

Little-Ace continued to run as fast as he could until he arrived at the place mentioned.

"Luffy!" he shouted as he slammed opened the door of the warehouse. When he saw the snickering men surrounding the area, his glare became even more intense. "Where the hell is Luffy, you bastards?"

"Now, now, there is no rush," the leader, Albert, said and snapped his fingers.

Nearby, a man came out of the door and was holding a beaten up child.

"Luffy!" Ace shouted and tried to go to him but was stopped in his tracks.

"Don't worry, I didn't hurt the brat much. At least, he would be in far better condition compared to you after I'm done with this whole thing," Albert reassured. "I heard that you could fight pretty well. How about working under me, eh? Of course, I won't treat you badly."

"Don't tell Ace to do stupid things!" Little-Luffy protested loudly and began squirming.

"Is that really alright?" Albert's face darkened. "I could send this kid to the other world with just a snap of my fingers. As good as a fighter you are, I don't think you could make it in time with this many people under me."

"Bastard…" Little-Ace growled.

"Don't listen to him, Ace! If you accept his offer then you'll become a monkey like him! I don't want Ace to be a monkey! Monkey stinks and their poop stinks! I want Ace to be Ace and poop normally but-"

"Shut up Luffy!" Little-Ace exclaimed and raised his fist before his brother could tell the world about his toilet time. "I…"

Albert smirked as he waited to listen to Little-Ace's answer.

He really didn't want to work after this man especially what he had done to Little-Luffy. He knew where Little-Luffy was coming from but there was no way he could refuse when it would result in Little-Luffy's death. Little-Ace had already long made up his mind when Albert dished out the offer. He didn't care about himself going bad and he was fine with throwing away his pride either. But he wasn't going to let Little-Luffy stay in here even as he worked under him.

"Let Luffy go first," Little-Ace said in determination.

"Ace!"

"Hmm? I don't think you have any rights to make demands, brat. If I let this kid go, you're just going to run away sooner or later anyway," Albert answered.

"I don't want Luffy to stay in the same room as you monkeys!" Little-Ace shot back.

Albert narrowed his eyes at him. "Kid, you're pushing your luck."

"Just let Luffy go!"

"I refuse!"

"I refuse your refusal!"

"This… brat," Albert glowered while his eyebrow was twitching violently. "Tie that kid up to a rock and throw him into the sea!"

Little-Ace's eyes widened at the order and watched as the man started to take Little-Luffy away. "No!" he yelled and tried to struggle his way out of the men's grip on him. "Alright! I will do as you damned say just don't do anything to Luffy!"

"Ace, don't do it!" Little-Luffy shouted. "I'll be fine so just go back to big brother Ace and big brother Luffy!"

"How cute. Your parents has a good sense of humor and naming skills," Albert mocked and grinned at Little-Ace's figure. "From now on, you will be working under me and you'll do it in secrecy. If this whole thing goes out, even to your brothers, I'll make sure that this kid doesn't live to see the next day."

Of course, Albert was in a great disadvantage since Ace and Luffy were a lot stronger and Little-Ace could get them anytime. He was taking a risk; Little-Luffy seemed too precious for Little-Ace to take any chances. At most, he could make him steal enough beli for him to run away from the country before killing the both of them. All he had to do was to make this brat work a single job for him.

"I want you to gather up 33 million beli for me. I don't care how you're going to do it but I suggest you try stealing," Albert said.

"33 million?!" Little-Ace shouted, ignoring Little-Luffy's protests "Is this a joke? Where the hell am I supposed to steal so much money?"

"There are nobles living in the Goa Kingdom, aren't they? If you could steal anything that could add up to this value then I'll let this kid go. And you too if you can do it fast enough. I'll give you until midnight to gather up at least 1 million. The rest can be settled in a month."

"You're joking, aren't you?!"

"You'll see if I am once I sink this brat into the ocean if you can't do it."

"Geh!"

Little-Luffy whimpered when Little-Ace seemed to be giving in. He didn't want Little-Ace to do this kind of thing. Even though Little-Luffy didn't like the nobles, he didn't want to be the reason why Little-Ace was put under pressure. If only he had been stronger then he wouldn't have to get caught and Little-Ace wouldn't have to listen to this bastard. The both of them really liked each other a lot.

"Ace…" Little-Luffy murmured.

"I'll do it," Little-Ace said through clenched teeth. "If you hurt Lu anymore, I'll kill all of you.'

"Heh, interesting threat, kid. I won't hurt him anymore as long as you can gather up 1 million by midnight," Albert said in amusement.

Little-Ace let out a 'tch' before exiting the warehouse and made his way towards Goa Kingdom.

"Keep an eye on the brat," Albert ordered one of his men.

Little-Luffy looked at the exit with a solemn expression. He caused more trouble for Little-Ace again… He knew that Little-Ace cared for him as much as he cared for him in return. But every time, it seemed as though Little-Luffy was the one who was getting Little-Ace's protection. When he was in trouble or when someone insulted him, Little-Ace was quick to jump in and pull Little-Luffy out of harm's way.

He really hoped that Little-Ace wouldn't get into trouble.

* * *

Little-Ace didn't know how he could steal from a noble. Even though he had snuck in there before, the security was high and what were the chances that he could continue doing so for a month? It was seemingly impossible. On top of that, Ace and Luffy would start getting suspicious when Little-Luffy didn't come home. Little-Ace didn't have enough time for himself to think through this whole thing.

Take a deep breath.

He should do what he could do. At least, he could stop that sick bastard from hurting Little-Luffy if he could complete this by tonight.

On the way to Goa Kingdom, he had to go through the Gray Terminal first. That would mean he would have to confront Luffy if he had to go any further. After that whole fighting fiasco, Ace had told them not to enter Goa Kingdom for their own sakes but Luffy should be an easy one to fool.

"Ace! You're back," Luffy greeted and looked up from the fish he had just caught. "We're going to have a big dinner today," he sang happily.

"That's good," Little-Ace muttered.

Luffy tilted his head to the side while still keeping the smile on his face. Little-Ace thought that Little-Luffy would look cuter if he were to do that though. "Where is little me? I thought he would be following you."

"We had a fight," Little-Ace grumbled.

"Again? You two sure fight a lot," Luffy commented.

_You and Ace were once us! _Ace thought before shaking it off. "Whatever. I don't care about him anymore. He said he hated me and I'm perfectly fine with that." Truth is, it was Little-Ace who hated himself for allowing this sort of thing to happen to Little-Luffy.

"Hmmm…" Luffy looked at Ace in exasperation. "So? What did you guys fight over this time again?"

"He was just being his usual idiotic self," Ace replied through gritted teeth. This whole lying thing was starting to get to him. He was usually fine with lies but he couldn't seemed to do it when it involved Little-Luffy. "Anyway, don't try looking for him. He's probably going to cry back to Makino and you'll get caught if you go near Fuchsia village."

"Wasn't planning to," Luffy reassured with a grin. "He'll be back anyway. Want to help me out with the fish?"

Little-Ace raised an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you going to wait until Ace gets back?"

"But I want to eat it now," Luffy whined.

Little-Ace shook his head at Luffy's behavior before he was reminded that Little-Luffy was the same way too. He really missed Little-Luffy now. At this time, he would've pestered Little-Ace about eating the fish in secret so that Luffy wouldn't steal it from them. Although he was annoying and loud more than half the time, he liked it when Little-Luffy paid attention to him rather than anyone else. The stupid hugs and kisses Little-Luffy had been giving him these days were adding up towards a high number. It was troublesome trying to hide his feelings and pushing Little-Luffy away at the same time.

But nevertheless, it felt nice to have… him around.

"What's wrong, Ace? You and little me really had that big of a fight?" Luffy asked.

"Feh," Little-Ace mumbled. "I'll go for a walk. Eat the fish if you want."

Even if it meant going against the whole world, Little-Ace will make sure of Little-Luffy's safety.

* * *

Well, yeah. Sorry for the short chapter. The next one should be longer and it'll be the turning point for this fic! Review, yah?


	9. How Much Do I Know You

Sorry for the extreme lateness for this chapter. I didn't really think it would matter much since it isn't so well recieved at first but after recieving two requests and some mentions to get back on this fic, I decided to do so. Initially, I was planning to leave it alone for awhile to update the other fics. Even though this story is obviously going to end by the next chapter, I am even procrastinating about ending it. Omfg!

**Anjelle: Well, their counterparts are going to do just that! :D**

**Kiyoumi: This is one of the surprising time whereby Little-Ace is going to be the mature one out of the four of them 8'D Ikr? Whenever he is insulting Ace, he never thought that he'd be insulting himself too xD**

**Haruka-desu: LOL! Nope, he doesn't!**

**ASL-fangirl: We all know that Luffy isn't going to disappoint us! :D**

**mirajane1984: I'm glad that you do, I kind of like it too! Thank you and I will! :D**

**Naru-Sama: Sorry for the long wait and thanks for adding this one to your favourites! It makes me really happy! :D**

**Diclonious57: Shishishi! Luffy is cute no matter being a teenager or a child 8DD**

**sakura240: Even though this is supposed to be a lighthearted fic 8'D I just like to shove drama in things that I'm supposed to keep my hands off. x3x Thank you and here's the next chapter! :3**

**trisha23flow: Probably not alone, I guess but you'll find out! :D**

* * *

In the evening, Little-Ace was lurking around a noble's mansion, Sabo's house to be exact. It was a good time because all of the family members would gather at the dining table for dinner. The guards outside were also lessened because they would be stationed at the dining area instead. But despite that, Little-Ace understood that one simple slip up out be the end for him. Just because there were lesser guards didn't mean that the nobles only hired the numbers they needed. They were constantly out to spend their money even on the most useless things. Little-Ace had to admit that because of that, they could never run out of security.

Little-Ace had never liked Sabo's family and was sure that Sabo would give a damn whether they went into bankruptcy. He still hadn't gotten over his death which probably wouldn't happen if Sabo's father made it his mission to interfere with Sabo's way of living. The only reason why they had never stolen from the nobles was because Sabo didn't want to get caught by his family, after all. On the bright side, the blonde still shared his secret passageways with Little-Ace whenever they were itching for a conversation.

As he moved stealthily around to the back of the mansion, he removed a tile (which stood out but surprisingly, no one did anything about it) from it's plLittle-Ace and plLittle-Aced it on the ground. Afterwards, he slipped through his first obstruction and moved on to the harder task. Little-Ace went into the bush of dead flowers near the fake, orange tree and pulled out a chain on the ground. Man, he wished he had half of Sabo's talent to do this kind of thing.

Let Little-Ace's theme music play-Oh wait, he didn't have one. Drats.

After he went through the tunnel, he found himself in Sabo's room. Little-Luffy would be alright until nighttime, right? Since Sabo's room had never been touched, it'd be fun to sneak around a little. That pansy had a diary!

Like what all best friends are supposed to do, Little-Ace hid the dairy in his pocket. This will be their new fairytale story book.

Other than that, Sabo's room was pretty modest. Even if there were anything to steal, Little-Ace would never do that to Sabo. Nope, he's a loyal friend who would never take something from a brother's room no matter what. Feeling proud of himself, he quietly stepped out of the door and walked through the empty hallways.

Towards Sabo's parents' room next.

It was pretty obvious which room was it. They didn't make it discreet with how large their door had to be. If Little-Ace had to estimate, even a fucking whale would be able to fit in that. Oh hey, here is a small door in that door. He's starting to feel as gay as Alice in Wonderland.

As expected, the room was richly decorated. Nothing quite spells, 'I'm rich and I'll still be fucking rich even if I get robbed' like this one. He went towards the makeup drawers and took all of the jewelries and shoved them into the bag he brought. All he had to do was to fill it up and it'd easily hit the target given.

With that out of the way, he sneaked out of the room and closed it.

Finally, he backtracked all the way back to the backyard and god is really fucking him hard.

The guard who was looking out at the backyard for no apparent reason caught him. Little-Ace felt like giving him the finger-Oops, he did and the guard looked madder. Maybe he shouldn't have done that. He hastily crawled out of the secret path and cursed when guards were coming at him from both sides.

_Persistent people, _Little-Ace thought.

If the back, right and left wouldn't work then what would he do? He ran forward and into the small forest. He is such a smart jackass.

The guards were still giving chase despite his choice of route. These people had so much money to spare so why the hell would they give a damn if a kid from the street stole some of their money? Fucking guys. And they weren't smart enough to realize that yelling for him to stop isn't going to make him.

"_Hiken_!"

The yells only grew louder but they weren't asking him to stop anymore.

When Little-Ace turned around, he was surprised to see fire. After that, Ace and Luffy came out from their hiding spot.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Little-Ace asked.

"We came to help you out of course," Ace replied.

"Are you dumb? This is a forest! The fire is going to spread and we're going to get burnt too!"

Luffy snickered and stretched his arms backwards. "Don't worry. I've got it covered."

_He isn't going to... _

"Let's go!" Luffy shouted and released his arms. He was sent flying towards Little-Ace until he hit him and... you guys know what happened.

Ace, on the other hand, dodged Luffy nicely and followed them by running instead. The main problem here is fire anyway and it was anything but Ace's issue. Little-Ace could hardly see anything when he was sent flying towards wherever they were heading towards. Ace only followed them through Little-Ace's screams and Luffy's laughter. He wasn't as fast as those two but he managed with a shortcut in the end. It turned out that they landed somewhere near Gray Terminal.

"I... hate you guys..." Little-Ace panted after freeing himself from underneath Luffy's body.

"It was the only way and you were complaining about not being able to get away," Ace reasoned after finally catching up with them. "And stop laughing, Lu. We have an important thing to discuss with little me here, remember?"

Luffy stopped laughing immediately and sat up. "What were we going to talk about again?"

Ace's forehead became close friends with his hand. "Never mind. Just sit there and don't do anything," he instructed and shifted his attention back onto Little-Ace. "I've heard that you were acting weird and it has something to do with Little-Luffy. I don't have to tell you anymore. Spit it out."

"I can't say anything," Little-Ace mumbled and looked away.

"You aren't helping him if you're going to refuse any help," Ace pointed out.

"Having you guys knowing about it will just make it even worse. Just stop bothering yourself with us already. I'll deal with this on my own," Little-Ace retorted stubbornly. "Anyway, don't you guys have somewhere to go back to?"

"We do but we are going to stay here until we find a way. Since we haven't then we aren't going to just lay around," Ace said.

"I don't care what you guys do but just stay out of this one."

Luffy frowned and looked at him. "You're really stubborn, aren't you?"

"You would be the last person I would think of hearing this from," Little-Ace said. "Besides, how did you even know anything in the first place?"

"It's kind of obvious, isn't it? I would never hate Ace," Luffy pointed out. "And even when we fought, Ace would never come back home. He'd go back to that cliff and sit there for eight hours. Sometimes, he would start saying my name out of nowhere too."

Ace almost lost his balance. "Wh-what? How did you know about _that?!"_

"I followed you," Luffy replied bluntly.

"And you never told me about it," Ace grumbled and shook his head. He looked at Little-Ace again but more sternly this time. "I know how you feel about this but I still want you to speak your mind. I'm not letting you go anywhere until you do."

"You don't care about what happens to Little-Luffy?!"

"I do but more serious shit is going to happen to the both of you if this continues. Whoever is behind this, I doubt they're just going to let you off easy. People around tend not to keep their word as long as they found a way to keep their profits."

"I'd do this for my life even if I have to," Little-Ace argued back.

"And Luffy wouldn't be happy and it might jeopardize our future too. I don't want Lu staying in somewhere where he couldn't freely move about and I'm sure that Little-Luffy doesn't want that too. And neither do the both of them would want us to do this sort of thing," Ace said. "So I'm going to be nice and give you two choices. Either you have to spit it out or tell us everything."

"That makes only one choice, you dumbass!"

Luffy laughed. "Ace just wants to save Little me just as much as you are."

"_You_ don't seem very concerned," Little-Ace said.

"I don't have anything to worry about. Ace, you and my friends are fine, after all. I bet that's what little me is thinking too."

Little-Ace growled and clenched his fists when he realized that he had already lost in this argument. Ace and Luffy just knew the both of them too well to turn things around. Or rather, maybe it was because Little-Ace didn't know Little-Luffy that well, in the end. He had always thought that Little-Luffy needed protecting and got scared over his own life easily (he did scream when Little-Ace and Sabo talked about killing him after all). Looking at how unbothered Luffy is, he really wondered if he really understood Little-Luffy. Maybe right now, that idiot was also worrying about him.

"A pirate named Albert took him. He told me that if I could get 33 billion beli, he would set Lu free. But tonight, I have to at least get him a million beli or rather, things that could worth that much or else he would hurt Lu. My choice was obvious."

"I don't remember them," Ace commented and looked at Luffy who only shrugged his shoulders in response. "Any more ideas on why he aimed at you?"

"They were the people we were beating up and followed us back to Gray Terminal."

"Ah, that would make sense. We didn't live in the Gray Terminal at that time and was protected by Dadan and the others. The forest is a pretty complicated maze too so hardly anyone would know how to get there unless we tell them," Ace said.

Luffy stood up and stretched. "Alright! Let's look for them and take little me back!"

"Wait! If you guys showed up, they would hurt Lu!" Little-Ace exclaimed.

"I think it's a little too late for that," Ace said with a grin and sent a fireball towards the bush. After awhile, you could hear a cry before a man fell out from his hiding spot, badly singed. "It looks like whoever that Albert is didn't have very smart minions working for him."

Little-Ace growled in annoyance when he realized that he was being followed all this time. It wasn't much of a surprise, however, since he also didn't expect Albert to trust him on the spot. It just felt irritating that the fiend would think that Little-Ace would rather lose Little-Luffy to their dirty hands. He'd never risk his little brother's life and would rather die. Ace and Luffy seemed a lot more experienced. If it wasn't for the comfort of knowledge that Ace would definitely guarantee Luffy and Little-Luffy's lives, Little-Ace would never trust them that easily to let them in on the plan.

Or maybe he was starting to warm up to them...

"Let's get on our way to save our damsel in distress," Ace remarked.

"Hey! I'm not that weak," Luffy protested.

"You aren't but you'll always be needing saving," Ace replied suggestively and pulled Luffy closer to him. "From me, that is."

Luffy pouted and hit him lightly over the head. "That sounded so girly," he complained.

"I was just speaking the truth," he said simply before pressing his lips against Luffy's to silence him from any more arguments. Luffy, wasn't the one to disappoint, returned the kiss happily and wrapped his limbs around Ace's body. Ace gladly supported Luffy up with his arms while their kiss only intensified. Just then, a rock came flying and hit Ace square in the head, causing him to break the kiss.

"If you have enough time to be kissing around, save Lu instead," Little-Ace barked angrily and stormed away.

So much for warming up to them.

* * *

**One Piece TALK CORNER!**

"You know, I've had Specials but never really a talk corner before," Fifth mused. "But since the next chapter is going to be the last, I'm going to end it with a bang! And here we go, a talk corner. If you guys have any questions for our four main characters, just state it in your review or give me a private message."

"We never agreed to this!" Little-Ace barked.

Ignoring the little one, Fifth lived up to her name of bastardy and continued. "The questions could be about this fic or about their relationships. Color of their underwear, color of their poops, color of Luffy's wedding dress-"

"I'm going to wear a dress?" Luffy asked. "I refuse!"

"Or if anyone is interested to know, I'm single and available ~"

"No one wants to know that crap!" Little-Ace fumed.

Fifth turned to them and lifted her finger. "I have a question! What do you guys think of me?"

"She started it off herself," Little-Ace grumbled. "I think that you're weird."

"Bizarre, I guess," Ace said.

"You're strange!" Little-Luffy chimed in cheerfully.

"You're just really odd," Luffy replied.

"Don't they all mean the same thing?!" Fifth cried.

Little-Ace's eyebrow twitched in irritation. "Your name is weird to begin with! Besides, why 'Fifth Of Fourth' anyway?!"

"Why? Isn't that obvious? That's my birthday."

"There is no way anyone would've guessed that!"

"Anyway, we've come to our end of the Talk Corner. See you guys next chapter!"

"Don't end it just like that!"

* * *

Review, yeah~?


	10. Goodbyes are Never Easy

And here we are at the last chapter. Procrastination really got the better of me. e.e

**Bluebird42: Hahahaha! I never failed to amuse me too. :P**

**Anjelle: Yep. This will be the last one as stated. I'm pretty sad to let this end to since I enjoyed writing about the four of them. 8'D**

**Naru-sama: I'm glad that you guys have been following me through this fic till so far-considering how less frequent I've been updating this fic. This fic has really come a long way. /sheds manly tears**

**zdenkac09: xD I'm glad that it entertained you!**

**Tsunayuki Kozato: Oh? Which manga? :D**

**Diclonious57: Yep, he is. xD**

**trisha23flow: I hope I didn't make the whole ending thing too sudden. xD **

**azab: Yep but only Ace knows that. :3**

**MeikoKuran999: Here is the last chapter then. ;D Glad that you loved the last one~**

**Natsu-dragneel17: It's prolly pretty rare for people to find a real angst fic in my list of stories. ;x**

**ASLfangirl: We all know that he cracks everyone up. xP**

**Honeydee: It may be a pretty short story but it's surprisingly, my first multi-chapter One Piece fic I've written. Everything shall be missed. 8'D**

* * *

Little-Ace entered the warehouse with a determined look. He could tell that the cogs were already spinning in Albert's head at his look of confusion.

One, Little-Ace took much quicker than the time given. Two, his men didn't return to inform him about Little-Ace's arrival. If Ace and Luffy didn't pull this off well, then Little-Luffy was definitely screwed. And if that happens, Little-Ace wasn't going to let them off the hook whether they're their future selves or not.

As Little-Ace walked towards the man, he emptied his pocket onto the ground, showing the amount of valuables he gotten. It was obviously a trap for Albert and the man knew that much. Even so, he decided to feign innocence to play this out as much as he could. At the very least, he still had Little-Luffy with him so he wouldn't dare to do anything, right? And how strong could Little-Ace's 'brothers' get when they were living in a pitiful state in Gray Terminal with nothing but canned food and each other when they could've hunted for pirates' bounties? Well, Ace definitely looked a lot more stronger than all of them combined but as long as he had their hostage, it should be fine.

Sadly for him, he thought everything wrong.

"Looks like you finally managed to gather everything up," Albert commented, pretending to be impressed. "I hope that you didn't run into... any trouble on your way back."

"It was easy," Little-Ace said simply.

They were waiting to see which side would take the first move.

"Good, good. Men, gather them up in a sack," Albert ordered. If they wanted to escape, it was good enough that they have at least this much. "I presume that you're going to continue working for me, right? For your little brother's sake?"

"Didn't we talk this out before already?" Little-Ace retorted impatiently. "Now where is Luffy?"

"He's being treated properly, I assure you."

"Bullshit. I brought you this much and the least you could do is to let me see him."

"I don't think insulting me and making demands is what you should be doing, you brat," Albert warned. "I can't trust you yet and I won't until you gathered up the 33 million beli I asked you to. Until then, the brat will be set free. Do you understand?"

"Oh? So what you're saying is that... Luffy is only worth that much?" A voice called out haughtily from above. "You guys really don't know how to make a deal. Luffy is worth a lifetime amount of belis. Probably every single beli in the whole world but I usually didn't have a problem with money."

Suddenly, a hand shot out from the other side of the room and the fist connected to Albert's face.

"I don't want money! I just want meat!" Luffy exclaimed.

"And your big brother, right?"

"I only want to eat meat!"

"I need a therapist for him. It's not healthy to love meat this much," Ace mumbled. He pursed his two fingers together and aimed at the various men in the room, including Albert who had just fallen on his face from Luffy's last attack. "_Higun!"_

"Oi! Did you guys find Luffy?" Little-Ace called out.

"Of course we did," Ace said simply.

"How?" Albert demanded.

His face became pale in fright. The person was a devil fruit user. And judging by the attack from the other guy just now, he must be one too. And they seemed really skilled in using their powers. There weren't any devil fruit users in Albert's crew. They were considered rare in the Sea Blue and most of them only gathered in the Grand Line, which was Albert's next objective in order to recruit some into his crew.

Albert couldn't say that he didn't expect this. He did but he thought that he could use their little brother to their advantage. He certainly didn't foresee them finding Little-Luffy so fast considering that they have no lead in the first place. Or did they?

"Your man told us everything after I threatened to burn his balls along with him alive," Ace replied with a smirk. "Apparently, he was as gutless as all of you are. What a joke. This is supposed to be someone we should be afraid of? I've met better pirates on the Grand Line."

"Using Luffy against me is the worst thing you could've ever thought of," Little-Ace spoke in a low, threatening voice.

He raised his weapon above his head and appeared before Albert in seemingly warp speed-or at least, it was how it looked like to him since Albert was too stunned at his own poor miscalculation to pay attention to what was about to happen to him. The bo staff connected to Albert's chin and he was easily sent flung backwards crashing into the wall behind him. At that moment, Ace and Luffy jumped from their position and stood behind Little-Ace.

"I-I surrender," Albert spoke in a frightened tone.

_"Hotarubi_." Ace conjured up green round shaped fire around the man.

"What do you want from me?" Albert demanded but not losing his panicked tone.

"Let our little brother go."

"But you said-"

"I lied," Ace said simply, making Little-Ace looked at him in shock. "Come on, he would've used Luffy against us if we didn't beat him up first. At least we can have a more pleasant deal this time. How about it, mister? Once these touches your skin, it'll burst into flames. I'm sure you wouldn't want to try firsthand, do you?"

Albert was at loss of words. His opponent had not only be strong but very cunning too. Was this the pirates that resided in the Grand Line? Most of the pirates that had never visited the place was considered small-fries. As stupid as Ace and Little-Ace thought him to be, he could really tell when he didn't have a chance of turning things around. Maybe if he had been a little more intelligent then he would've saw this coming. But, he wasn't. And Ace was glad for that.

He gritted his teeth in anger at himself for falling into such an easy trick. "Hey! Let the damned brat go!" he hollered.

A few moments later, there was a rustling in the bush and Little-Luffy appeared from it. He ran towards Little-Ace and tackled him onto the ground while crying. "Waaaaaah! That was so scary! I thought that Ace is going to get into trouble because of me!"

"Stop. Crying!" Little-Ace ordered but didn't push Little-Luffy away.

"If only Sabo was here then he would know what to do. Waaaaaaaah! I missed Sabo so much! Why wasn't he here instead?"

"Why you-are you trying to say that I'm useless?!"

Little-Luffy's cry was reduced into sniffles as he buried his face into Little-Ace's chest. "I-I'm sorry for being weak and causing A-Ace so much trouble. I was really s-scared when Ace had to do all those things b-because of me. I-I want to get stronger s-so Ace wouldn't have to worry anymore..."

Little-Ace's face softened after that. "Lu..."

By that time, Ace had already released the fireflies and got Luffy to throw Albert away from here as far as he could. There was no one but them now. Ace chuckled at the both of them while Luffy simply grinned. Everything was alright now and Little-Ace started to trust the both of them more.

"Hey, how about a reward for saving you, little Lu? Give big brother Ace a kiss here," Ace said as he squatted down beside him and pointed at his lips.

"Hell no he isn't going to do that!" Little-Ace snapped and whacked Ace's head with his bo staff instead.

"But it's fine, isn't it? Big brother Ace helped us," Little-Luffy remarked as he released Little-Ace and totted over to the lying figure on the ground. Ignoring Little-Ace's protests, he squatted down and gave Ace a peck on the lips. "Thank you for saving me, big brother Ace~"

"Let him go, you bastard!" Little-Ace snapped when Ace suddenly recovered and pulled Little-Luffy into a hug.

Luffy snickered and carried Little-Ace up despite the latter's protests.

"Don't get so mad," Luffy said casually and kissed Little-Ace's forehead.

"Hey!" Ace protested.

Everyone started to laugh at Little-Ace's reddening face as he started squirming in Luffy's hold and demanded to be put down on the ground. Luffy continued to hold him despite that and soon, Little-Ace stopped bothering and allowed Luffy to do whatever he wanted.

Little-Luffy nuzzled his cheek against Ace's shoulder happily until he found out that something was off. Little-Ace also realized it when Luffy began to become transparent as well. Soon, Ace understood what was happening to them.

"It looks like we'll be heading back to our time now," Ace said.

"Why? But I don't want big brother Ace and big brother Luffy to go," Little-Luffy complained.

"Well, it isn't exactly our choice," Luffy replied with a sheepish grin. "I have lots of things I have to do anyway. I have to find my friends, become a lot more stronger and continue our journey. I'm going to become the Pirate King!"

"I have to return to my own crew too," Ace added in.

Little-Ace frowned at them. Even though it wasn't a lie that he also didn't want them to go, he didn't make this out loud. Sure, they were a handful bunch but the times they stayed together was... fun. It sounded somewhat crazy too since they were saying goodbye to their older selves, to themselves. They were different in many ways but they were still the same person. Little-Ace didn't believe their claims at first but it soon grew obvious after seeing how much Ace cared about Luffy and vice versa.

He was worried when Luffy talked about Ace's death at that time in the beach. They obviously didn't go much into detail about it afterwards because they didn't want Little-Luffy to be distraught at what was about to happen. He already experienced twice at the threat of Luffy's life and he didn't want Little-Luffy to experience the same feelings.

"Little me," Ace called out. "Be sure to take some manners lessons from Makino."

"Why would I want to do that?" Little-Ace asked skeptically.

"You will need it. And... don't forget about the name 'Whitebeard Pirates'. They're good people. Very good people," Ace said after a pause of thought. "Look after Luffy too and don't do anything reckless. If you do then you might have to suffer the humiliation of having your butt saved by him."

Little-Ace rolled his eyes. "Luffy? Saving me? I'll put Luffy's name on my right arm if that were to happen."

"I'll hold you on that," Ace said.

"I'll be sure to become the Pirate King," Little-Luffy called out.

"Ah and you'll have your own crew. By the way, getting a musician is very important. The first thing you do when you set out to the sea is to find a musician. You can't have a crew without a musician, got it?" Luffy reminded.

Little-Luffy nodded in complete understanding.

"Why is that the most important?" Little-Ace asked dryly.

"To sing, of course!" Little-Luffy chirped in helpfully. "I'll become much stronger and protect Ace from bad things!"

"I told you that I didn't need you protecting me!"

"This is it then," Ace said.

As they held their memories together in their heart, a bright light filled the place and continued to shine under the dark blue sky.

* * *

"And now we shall have our One Piece Talk Corner," Fifth announced, ignoring the protests coming along about how crappy the ending was. "We have a few questions around... two, I think? First one is from Naru-Sama, my favourite reader. Here is her question...

'Ace and Luffy kiss all the time but I would like to know... has little Ace or little Luffy kissed one-another? My little sisters are 1-3 and when they kiss it's so cute! 3 the two little sweet kid's giving a kiss is so adorable and I would love to see little Ace's reaction! So cute!x3'"

Little-Ace started coughing loudly. "We haven't kissed, you pervert!"

"But we did-"

"Never did!" Little-Ace cut Little-Luffy off.

"Here is your answer. They kissed in Chapter seven," Fifth answered before Little-Ace could whack her with his bo staff... but he did whack her with it in the end anyway. With a huge bump on her head, Fifth willed herself to continue. "Next question is from trisha23flow and here it is...

'I want to ask Luffy and Ace. How frequently did you do IT?'"

Ace raised an eyebrow at the question. "Why would you want to know about that?"

"Four times! The first time is before Ace sets off. We did it one time after we met and one more time in the dessert. The last one would be here," Luffy answered.

"Lu!" Ace protested.

"Do what? What does she means by 'do IT'? Did they eat? They ate meat without us? How could they?" Little-Luffy wailed.

Little-Ace slapped his forehead. "Ignore it, Lu."

"But they ate meat without us! That's really mean and unfair!"

"Continuing on," Fifth said, "the same reviewer has something to say to you, Lil Ace...

'For little-Ace, this is not a question though. I just want to say something to him. STOP ACTING LIKE A TSUNDERE!'"

"What the heck is a tsundere?!" Little-Ace exclaimed.

"It's a term whereby they act as though they don't have feelings for their crush even though it's obvious that they do. Instead, they react in a violent manner towards their own feelings... and sometimes their object of affections too," Fifth explained.

"...How do you know all these crap?" Little-Ace asked.

Fifth coughed into her fist. "I'm not a fanfic writer for nothing."

Ace coughed into his fist. "You aren't a good fanfic writer to begin with."

"HEY!" Fifth protested before calming down. "And now we have the highlight of this fanfic! I shall sing a song for all of you! Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me~ Happy birthday to-" she was cut off when Little-Ace threw a rock at her head.

"Come on, Lu. Let's go back," Little-Ace said casually as he took Little-Luffy's hand and exited the crazy place.

* * *

And that marks the end of the fic. Thank you all so much for sticking with me all these time! I'm sorry if the ending came out crappy and didn't fulfill your expectations. 8'D I'm pretty bad at these kinds of stuffs, to be honest. OTL

On the other hand, I have an announcement. Due to popular (somewhat) demands, I've decided to continue 'Shin Sekai! Number Ten!'. More work for me, yay~ Just kidding. I love writing. ;P


	11. Unless They Are Not

Remember when I said that the previous chapter was going to be the last? Apparently, it didn't go that way. Actually, I was planning on a continuation before I written that chapter but then I reconsidered it. What about now? I just reconsidered it.

/Gets beaten up

Anyway, since most of you guys reviewed that you're going to miss the story, I'm just going to post this reply to all of you.

**It's back on now! AWWWWW YEEEEAAAAHHHH**

So yeah, enjoy?

* * *

After the binding light finally faded, Ace and Luffy found themselves in their respective ships.

While the two was missing, the Whitebeard Pirates and the Strawhat Pirates each sought out to look for their Second Commander and Captain. The Marineford war was pronounced over when Whitebeard sacrificed himself in order to allow the remaining pirates on the island to leave by destroying it and leaving Marco with an order of looking for Ace and his little brother. Meanwhile, the Strawhat Pirates gathered to look for Luffy seperately. Before they realized it, Ace and Luffy were lying in a quite embarrassing manner on each of their decks. No really, it was awkward to see someone's face planted on the floor and their butt up in the air. However, there was a pretty good explanation for this.

At the Moby Dick, Marco approached Ace with caution, wary that the guy might just suddenly shoot up from his position and scare the living daylights out of him. Marco wasn't exactly an easy person to get most expressions out of but when Ace puts his mind to it, he can really get things done. Although, Marco thought that being captured by the Marines and becoming the trigger of the Marineford war was very unnecessary. But whatever.

When Ace started to drool in his sleep, the blond decided that he had enough sleep.

"Wake up, yoi," Marco demanded and pulled him off the ground by his shoulders.

"Luffy... there is a baby... inside you..."

Marco stared at Ace for a moment before sighing. He never knew what was happening in Ace's fantasies and honestly, he didn't need to be blabbered to accidentally. It was obvious that Ace loved Luffy more than the world thinks of but no one on the Moby Dick would've came to that conclusion if Ace hadn't told everyone that Luffy isn't bloody-related to him. The way Ace said it sounded as though he was too glad about it.

"Ace, we're on the ship," Marco reminded.

"So cute... it's a girl... Let's name her Marco..."

Then, Marco gave into his urge and slapped Ace across the face.

"OW! What the hell?" Ace yelped and opened his eyes.

"You were dreaming something stupid," Marco said simply and dropped Ace onto the ground. "You went missing with your brother during the war, yoi! You made us all worry like crazy and all you can do is dreaming about having a kid with Luffy? Either you love him too much or you're just dumb, yoi!"

"Are you my daughter...?" Ace asked as he looked at Marco with half-lidded eyes.

"Wake up!" Marco growled and smacked him across the head.

When Ace finally took the second hit to the head, he blinked and finally became fully awake. He made it back to his world. He didn't know how everything worked but at least he was able to survive and return. Not only that, Ace got to met his past self with Luffy and his own. He wondered how those two brats were doing now. The last time he saw them, they were bidding each other goodbye and Little-Luffy cried for them-or did he? Luffy was a crybaby in the past anyway. He missed the little one so much. Although he could get easily irritated with people crying, it was not the same when Little-Luffy does it. It also gave him an excuse to hold him in his arms while Little-Ace was distracted by his anger.

His little self was really trouble, huh? Ace was glad that he wouldn't be taking his jealousy out on his older self anymore.

"Lu..."

Marco and Ace blinked at each other before turning to the source of voice behind them.

"Just wear the dress, dammit..."

Ace screamed as his eyes bugged out from its sockets at the view of Little-Ace sleeping on the wooden floor of the Moby Dick.

"Is that... you?" Marco asked slowly.

The only thing that gave away was the silly dream of Luffy that Ace always had. As for the appearance, his face was flat against the floor so Marco couldn't really tell if he was truly the real deal. On the other hand, there aren't as many people who would be as shameless as to conjure up sick fantasies about Monkey D. Luffy. Either they get toasted by Ace who somehow could detect sick thoughts of Luffy in a man or they just simply don't existed because it's stupid.

"Wh-why is he here? I thought we left them behind when we came back here!"

"You're asking me, yoi? What happened to you anyway?"

"Oh yeah. During the war, Luffy and I got sent back to the past and met our past self. We stayed there for a couple of days until something kicked in and we came back. It sounds really crazy but you have to believe me. And yes, that little kid is me in the past," Ace explained.

Marco raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure that you didn't somehow bring Luffy to Saobody Archiepelago during the war and got him to give birth to your kids?"

"I wish!" Ace snapped before shaking his head. "Forget about the kid, where is Luffy?"

"Forget about him? He is you, yoi!"

"And that's why I told you to forget about him. Look, I know how my past self is like and I think you'd throw him into the sea once he wakes up. I may sound self-hating but even I felt like strangling him when he got in the way of my alone time with Luffy all the damn time!"

"Sounds like a kid that I might get to like," Marco mused.

"You're a mama devil!"

"Say that again and I'll put you on chores for the whole month, yoi."

"You can't do that to me! I have to look for Luffy!"

Then, Ace felt a something chucking against his head. "So noisy..." Little-Ace mumbled before he lifted himself off the floor.

When he tried to identify the noises around him, he was struck with confusion and unease when he wasn't greeted by the surroundings he expected. The last thing he could remember was his and Luffy's older self disappearing in a flash of light and everything blacked out after that. He narrowed his eyes when he realized that he was in the ship. Was it Alfred's? Did he come back and kidnapped them after Ace and Luffy was gone? Where is Little-Luffy? Little-Ace started to panic when he realized that Little-Luffy wasn't with him. Fuck! Did Alfred put him somewhere in this damned place? Little-Luffy is in danger and Little-Ace had to find him!

When he turned his head to Ace, his reaction was the same when Ace found Little-Luffy lying on the Moby Dick.

"What the heck?" Little-Ace asked incredulously as he fetched his pipe on the ground. "And where is Luffy?"

Ace held up his hands in defense, actually afraid that Little-Ace might start going into feral mode if he were to find out that he had no idea where both Luffy are either. And causing bodily harm to himself would be the stupidest thing that anyone would try to do. As tempting as it sounds on several occasions, Ace was smart enough to leave that out.

"Don't panic. Listen to me slowly. You too, Marco," Ace instructed and started to explain the best he could.

* * *

At the Thousand Sunny, the crew members and Law gathered around Luffy in a circle as though in awe of what they found. It wasn't Luffy's butt sticking up in the view of their faces but rather, they finally found their captain after he was pronounced dead by the marines. They liked to save their faces a lot so when the two couldn't be found, they must be dead to the public in order to uphold their prid-justice. But no one really bought that bullshit and neither did their crewmates.

After a few days, the Heart Pirates joined them in their quest of looking for their captain. No one knew what was Law's intentions or trusted him but at that time, they needed all the help they could get and Nami immediately shut Zoro's protests up. During the few weeks, Law didn't pose as any threat to them and Chopper seemed to have warmed up a lot to him when they talked about medical related stuffs. Still, most of the crew members weren't ready to completely trust Law until they found Luffy to listen to what he has to say... although all of them already knew what nonsense Luffy was going to blabber, as usual.

Nami was quicker than anyone else as she immediately grabbed Luffy by the back of his collar, turned him around and started slapping him a few times until Luffy finally opened his eyes.

"Meat..." Luffy mumbled.

"Luffy! Where have you been? We have been looking for you for weeks now and couldn't get any clues to your whereabouts until now? Why didn't you try to contact us, huh? That will be 100,000 beli for making me run with my treasure to gather everyone to look for you!" Nami exploded.

"There is something on the ground too," Law commented as he picked up the sleeping boy. "And it looks a lot like your captain."

Nami stared at the little boy in Law's arms before slapping Luffy a few more times again. "Luffy! Don't tell me you disappeared with Ace during the war and yourself knocked up! I don't care what you two do but that was the most ridiculous timing of all! Plus, you made everyone of us worry when you are just... having fun!"

"Wah! Don't hit me anymore," Luffy exclaimed after coming to his senses. "Eh? Where am I?"

"You're on your ship!" Nami shouted.

"Are you alright, Luffy? Everyone gathered when we found out that you were missing during the war. Although what we read from the news was completely different, we didn't really buy it. So what happened? Did you and Ace really had a kid?" Sanji asked and took out his cigarette from his mouth.

Instead, Luffy blinked at them in confusion. "Kid?" Then, he turned his head 180 degrees to look at the boy in Law's arm. "Oh! He is me from the past. Ace and I went there and met our younger self. Pretty cool, huh?"

Nami gritted her teeth in irritation. "This is not the time to be telling jokes!"

"I'm not lying!"

"Let's believe him, Nami. Our captain is never good at lying," Robin persuaded with a calm smile. "And I've read in books about time traveling. Although it seemed like a myth, I am certain that there has to be at least a devil fruit ability that contains its prowess. After all, there is a known devil fruit that gives the ability to make one younger."

"Whatever... I'm tired," Zoro mumbled with a yawn even though he was fully awake before Luffy was found.

"You're always tired!" Nami snapped.

Law, who was still holding Little-Luffy in his arms, twitched. "Is this really the time? Since we found your captain and his little self, we should check if they sustained any injures first. After all, your captain disappeared in the middle of the war," he pointed out.

"So cool..." Chopper said in amazement.

"Law! You're here too!" Luffy chirped up happily.

"Strawhat. You're an idiot."

With that, the crew finally allowed Law and Chopper to take the both of them into the medical bay. While Law and Chopper ran tests on Luffy and the sleeping Little-Luffy, the rest stayed outside and waited for them. Suddenly, the den den mushi started ringing and Sanji was ordered to pick up the call... only to recieve an earful of curses and managed to get the word 'Luffy' somewhere in between the chaos that was happening at the other side of the phone. Since nothing he says could calm whoever that was at the other line down, he decided to bring the phone to Luffy so that he could try to talk to them. Or at least, to pass it to someone before he breaks it with his leg.

Law wasn't being too appreciative at having the noises present in the medical bay, however.

"Ace!" Luffy exclaimed in happiness when he recognized the voice immediately.

"Luffy!" Ace called back. Huh, Sanji thought that the voice sounded a bit too familiar. "You're on your ship now, right? I thought that I might try calling and I never thought that my guess was correct. Are you okay? I was worried when I couldn't find you when I woke up."

"Where the hell is Lu, you perverted bastard?!"

"Shut up! I'm talking to my Luffy now! And don't call your future self a bastard!"

"You don't deny the pervert, yoi?"

Luffy laughed at them and wanted to say something until Law took ahold of the den den mushi and spoke into it. "This is Trafalgar Law. I don't care who you are or where you are but keep quiet when I can hear your damn voice in the medical room."

"Law? Is that one of the supernovas I hear about?" Ace asked.

"Yes, I am and I'm taking care of your brother, right now," Law replied as he covered his hand over Luffy's mouth to prevent him from speaking. "And quiet down. You're disturbing us. I was having a good time examining on his body too."

"What was that?! Examining him? Good time? What are you doing to Luffy, you perverted bastard!" Ace shouted.

"Don't worry, big brother. I'm thoroughly checking through your little brother's rubbery body with my reproductive organs so he's in very, very good hands. If you know what I mean. Bye," Law said and hung up on them, ignoring the strings of curses he heard before he set the phone down.

"Why was Ace angry?" Luffy asked in confusion.

Law shrugged innocently and took out an injection needle. "I don't know. You have a weird brother. Give me your arm, Strawhat. I'm going to have to check your blood next."

When Luffy saw the needle, he immediately paled and started glancing towards the door nervously. Before Law knew it, Luffy immediately got off the bed and bolted out of the door for his life. He never liked needles and it was hell when Garp had to be the one to take care of him whenever he got sick. That was why Luffy's body somehow grew a fear of getting ill, afraid that Garp might try stupid methods to make him well so that they could proceed on with their training. At least, it was what Garp claimed to hide his worry over Luffy's pain. It didn't go well when Garp started taking out ten injection needles out of nowhere and started throwing them at Luffy as though they were shurikens during that one time.

"What do we do?" Chopper asked innocently as he removed the needle from the sleeping Little-Luffy's arm.

Law growled and felt the urge to roll his eyes. "Catch him."

* * *

I'm kind of tempted to put MarcoxSanji as a side pairing for this fic too. But I don't know. alksjaksa

Review, yeah?


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